;Ultimate Civ II - Civilopedia Descriptions Text File -- Copyright (c) 1997 MicroProse Software, Inc. 
;

@ADVANCE_DESCRIPTIONS

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@IMPROVEMENT_DESCRIPTIONS

@@IMPROVEMENT_INDEX
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@WONDER_DESCRIPTIONS

@@WONDER_INDEX
0,			; (Pyramids)
1,			; (Hanging Gardens)
2,			; (Colossus)
3,			; (Lighthouse)
4,			; (Great Library)
5,			; (Oracle)
6,			; (Great Wall)
7,			; (Sun Tzu's War Academy)
8,			; (King Richard's Crusade)
9,			; (Marco Polo's Embassy)
10,			; (Michelangelo)
11,			; (Copernicus)
12,			; (Magellan)
13,			; (Shakespeare)
14,			; (Da Vinci's Workshop)
15,			; (Bach)
16,			; (Newton)
17,			; (Smith's Trading Co.)
18,			; (Darwin)
19,			; (Statue of Liberty)
20,			; (Eiffel Tower)
21,			; (Women's Suffrage)
22,			; (Hoover Dam)
23,			; (Manhattan Project)
24,			; (United Nations)
25,			; (Apollo)
26,			; (SETI)
27,			; (Cure for Cancer)
-2,			; MUST BE HERE! TERMINATOR!

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Following the August Revolution (1945) organized by the Vietminh, Ho became Chairman of the Provisional Government (Premier of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and issued a Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Although he convinced Emperor Bao Dai to abdicate, his government was not recognized by any country. He repeatedly petitioned American President Harry S. Truman for support for Vietnamese independence, citing the Atlantic Charter, but Truman did not respond. 

After the successful takeover of Hanoi, Vietnam was taken over by Chinese nationalist forces and the French military. In response to this, the Communist Party was dissolved and in practice, the Vietminh became a member of a large struggle for independence. The organization was ostensibly dissolved, but its core was still functioning. According to the CIA, membership grew to about 400,000 members by 1950. 

In 1951, during the war for independence, the officially dissolved Communist Party was officially re-established and renamed the Workers Party of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Dang lao dong Viet Nam). The Indochinese War against French forces lasted until 1954 with the Vietnamese victory at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

At the second Party Congress it was decided that the Communist Party would be split into three; one party for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. However, in an official note it said that the "Vietnamese party reserves the right to supervise the activities of its brother parties in Cambodia and Laos." 

The Cambodian party, the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party, was established in April 1951, and the Lao party, the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, was formed four years later, on 22 March 1955. 

The third Party Congress, held in Hanoi in 1960, formalized the tasks of constructing socialism in what was by then North Vietnam, or the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), and committed the party to the liberation of South Vietnam. 

In 1975, the Workers Party of North Vietnam was merged with the People's Revolutionary Party of South Vietnam. At the fourth Party Congress in 1976, it was named the Communist Party of Vietnam; the party explained that the name change was made in light of the "strengthened proletariat dictatorship, the development of the leadership of the working class ... a worker-peasant alliance.

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The Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) had an open market economy mostly based on services, agriculture, and aid from the United States. Though formally a free market economy, economic development was based largely on five-year economic plans or four-year economic plans. Its economy stayed stable in the 10 first years, then it faced difficulties due to the escalation of the Vietnam War, which led to unsteady economic growth, high state budget deficits, high inflation, and trade deficits. The South Vietnamese government conducted land reforms twice. The United States played an important role in this economy through economic and technical aid, and trade.

The government of Ngo Dinh Diem carried out a policy of export-oriented industrialization to replace imported goods and set up trade protectionism, tariff and non-tariff barriers were created to protect light industrial businesses. The result of this policy brought about the first paper factory of Vietnam. Imports of machinries, equipment, metals  the input factors of the protected industries were given priority, at the same time, export enjoyed encourage measures with several exported good received governmental subsidiary. Export of this country gained smooth achievement in 1955-1965. 

The economy of the Republic of Vietnam in this period proved to be progressive, however, political conflicts and unrests (armed conflicts between factions, continuous coup d'tat, emergence of the Viet Cong) confined the efficiency of those policies.

During 1965 to 1969, the underground economy was booming, the budget deficit soared, hyperinflation afflicted the economy and the currency was repeatedly devalued, resulting in an economic depression. The warfare caused negative impact on economic growth, especially the large scale Tet Offensive in 1968.

From 1969 onward, the economy of South Vietnam faced difficulties caused by sudden decrease of demand as the US and its allies steadily reduced their armed forces from South Vietnam over the 1970-72 period. 

Budget deficit soared regardless of the fact that domestic budget revenues and the US aids increased while the government had to take responsibility for military actions on its own. Hyperinflation incurred in this period. In 1970, the inflation rate (based on CPI in ordinary people Saigonese people) reached up to 36.8%, and in 1973 this rate rose to 44.5% in large part due to the devastating effects of the Arab Oil Embargo. 

In last years of the Republic of Vietnam's existence, the government went on to introduce import limitations, export incentives, and encouraged domestic consumption. 

@@06

@@07

Vo Nguyen Giap (25 August 1911  4 October 2013) was a General in the Vietnam People's Army and a politician. Giap is considered one of the great military strategists of his time. He first grew to prominence during World War II, where he served as the military leader of the Viet Minh resistance against the Japanese occupation of Vietnam. 

Giap was a principal commander in two wars: the First Indochina War (194654) and the Vietnam War (196075). He participated in the following historically significant battles: Lang Son (1950), Hoa Binh (195152), Dien Bien Phu (1954), the Tet Offensive (1968), the Easter Offensive (1972), and the final Ho Chi Minh Campaign (1975).

Giap was also a journalist, an interior minister in President Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh government, the military commander of the Viet Minh, the commander of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), and defense minister. He also served as a member of the Politburo of the Vietnam Workers' Party, which in 1976 became the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Giap remained commander in chief of the People's Army of Vietnam throughout the war against the United States. During the conflict, he oversaw the expansion of the PAVN from a small self-defense force into a large conventional army, equipped by its communist allies with considerable amounts of relatively sophisticated weaponry, although this did not in general match the weaponry of the Americans. 

Giap has often been assumed to have been the planner of the Tet Offensive of 1968, but this appears not to have been the case. The best evidence indicates that he disliked the plan, and when it became apparent that Le Duan and Van Tien Dung were going to push it through despite his doubts, he left Vietnam for medical treatment in Hungary, and did not return until after the offensive had begun. 

Although this attempt to spark a general uprising against the southern government failed militarily, it turned into a significant political victory by convincing the American politicians and public that their commitment to South Vietnam could no longer be open-ended. Giap later argued that the Tet Offensive was not a "purely military strategy" but rather part of a "general strategy, an integrated one, at once military, political and diplomatic."

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Before the buildup of US combat forces in 1965, Saigon was the only significant deep draft port in Vietnam. Cam Ranh Bay had a small pier constructed in 1964 that could berth two vessels.

The 1st Logistical Command was responsible for the initial construction planning for Army requirements in Vietnam, including the development of port facilities.  They did not have the luxury of constructing terminals, depots and other port facilities prior to the arrival of the first combat units. They had to offload units, their equipment and supplies by landing craft across bare beaches.  

1st Logistics Command established terminals at Saigon, Cam Ranh Bay, Qui Nhon and Da Nang to handle the tremendous influx of men and materiel.   The plan was to develop Siagon, Da Nang, and Cam Ranh Bay into major logistical bases, and Qui Nhon, Nha Trans, Phan Rang, Chu Lai, Phu Bai and Vung Tau into minor support bases.

Barge offloading facilities, ramps for landing craft, and petroleum unloading facilities were all required.

Since Saigon was also the primary commercial port in Vietnam, 4th Transportation Command developed deep draft ports in the Saigon area at Vung Tau, Cat Lai, Vung Ro and Newport.  

@@13

The Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Central Committee Communist Party of Vietnam, formerly the Standing Committee of the Central Committee from 1930 to 1951, is the highest body of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) between Central Committee meetings, which are held at least twice a year. According to Party rules, the Politburo directs the general orientation of the government and enacts policies which have been approved by either the National Party Congress or the Central Committee.

The members of the Politburo are elected (and given a ranking) by the Central Committee in the immediate aftermath of a National Party Congress.

The Politburo is the leading organ on Party affairs; the Central Committee convenes only twice a year, but the Politburo can implement policies which has been approved by either the previous Party Congress or the Central Committee. It is the duty of the Politburo to ensure that resolutions of the Party Congress and the Central Committee are implemented nationally. It is also responsible for matters related to organisation and personnel, and has the right to prepare (and even convene) a Central Committee plenary session. The Politburo can be overruled by the Central Committee.

Meetings are held regularly; decisions within the Politburo are made through collective decision-making, which means that policies are only enacted if a majority of Politburo members support them. In the 1960s, outside analysts believed the Politburo was divided into two factions (pro-China and pro-Soviet); this forced Politburo members to decide policy through compromise. This was later proven wrong, because Ho Chi Minh became a staunch believer in collective decision-making during the 1950s after the beginning of de-Stalinisation in the Soviet Union. 

Ho's successor, Le Duan, stated at the 4th National Congress that "Only with collective decisions made by collective intelligence will we be able to avoid subjectivism that leads to errors and sometimes to dangerous consequences". Ho's emphasis on the maintenance of unity led the Party to eschew the Communist Party of China's (CPC) policy of "criticism and self-criticism". The CPC's criticism and self-criticism policy was used to resolve "internal contradictions"; the problem with this concept was that it always assumed that one side was right. "Criticism and self-criticism" was not introduced in Vietnam, chiefly for this reason.

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The U.S. became polarized over the war. Many supporters of U.S. involvement argued for what was known as the domino theory, a theory that believed if one country fell to communism, then the bordering countries would be sure to fall as well, much like falling dominoes. This theory was largely held due to the fall of eastern Europe to communism and the Soviet sphere of influence following World War II. However, military critics of the war pointed out that the Vietnam War was political and that the military mission lacked any clear idea of how to achieve its objectives. Civilian critics of the war argued that the government of South Vietnam lacked political legitimacy, or that support for the war was completely immoral.

The media also played a substantial role in the polarization of American opinion regarding the Vietnam War. For example, In 1965 a majority of the media attention focused on military tactics with very little discussion about the necessity for a full scale intervention in Southeast Asia. After 1965, the media covered the dissent and domestic controversy that existed within the United States, but mostly excluded the actual view of dissidents and resisters.

The media established a sphere of public discourse surrounding the Hawk versus Dove debate. The Dove was a liberal and a critic of the war. Doves claimed that the war was wellintentioned but a disastrously wrong mistake in an otherwise benign foreign policy. It is important to note the Doves did not question the U.S. intentions in intervening in Vietnam, nor did they question the morality or legality of the U.S. intervention. Rather, they made pragmatic claims that the war was a mistake. 

Contrarily, the Hawks argued that the war was legitimate and winnable and a part of the benign U.S. foreign policy. The Hawks claimed that the one-sided criticism of the media contributed to the decline of public support for the war and ultimately helped the U.S. lose the war. Author William F. Buckley repeatedly wrote about his approval for the war and suggested that "The United States has been timid, if not cowardly, in refusing to seek 'victory' in Vietnam." The hawks claimed that the liberal media was responsible for the growing popular disenchantment with the war and blamed the western media for losing the war in Southeast Asia.

The reasons behind American opposition to the Vietnam War fell into several main categories: opposition to the draft; moral, legal, and pragmatic arguments against U.S. intervention; and reaction to the media portrayal of the devastation in Southeast Asia.

The draft, as a system of conscription which threatened lower class registrants and middle class registrants alike, drove much of the protest after 1965. Conscientious objectors did play an active role although their numbers were small. The prevailing sentiment that the draft was unfairly administered inflamed blue-collar American and African-American opposition to the military draft itself.

Opposition to the war arose during a time of unprecedented student activism which followed the free speech movement and the civil rights movement. The military draft mobilized the baby boomers who were most at risk, but grew to include a varied cross-section of Americans. The growing opposition to the Vietnam War was partly attributed to greater access to uncensored information presented by the extensive television coverage on the ground in Vietnam.

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"We are there because we have a promise to keep. Since 1954 every American president has offered support to the people of South Vietnam. We have helped to build, and we have helped to defend. Thus, over many years, we have made a national pledge to help South Vietnam defend its independence." - President Lyndon B. Johnson, April 7, 1965 

As President Lydon Johnson said, United States of America heavily supported the South Vietnamese economy so that 'domino' should not be triggered. Most of economic development during the wartime can be contributed to aid programs. 

Of all allies of South Vietnam, USA not only constituted the largest portion in South Vietnam trade but also aided South Vietnam most. The support ranged from military aid, technical support, and relief supplies. There were four USA aid programs: the Commercial Import Program, PL 480, Project Aid, and Piaster Subsidy Aid. 

Although the titles of the programs were different, essential concepts of the programs were the same: "help South Vietnam defend its independence." The programs were mainly funded by USA government budget, except for Project Aid, which was funded by US civilians. Also, other types of aid from US existed. Military aid composed the largest part of total assistance. This kind of aid peaked especially in 1973; of total assistance of 3,880.6 million Dollar, military assistance composed 3,349.4 million Dollar. Another way was through net resource transferred. The needs of South Vietnamese people were mostly compensated by foreign aid.

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United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States armed forces responsible for the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. It is the oldest and largest of the unified combatant commands. Its commander, the senior U.S. military officer in the Pacific, is responsible for military operations in an area which encompasses more than 100 million square miles, or roughly 52 percent of the Earths surface, stretching from the waters off the west coast of the United States to the west coast of India, and from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) was a subunified command of US Pacific Command, with Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force elements. MACV controlled the war in South Vietnam, but Pacific Command in Hawaii retained control of the war in North Vietnam, via Pacific Air Forces and Pacific Fleet. The commander of 7th Air Force was chairman of a coordinating committee for key operations in North Vietnam.

Seventh Air Force in Saigon was under operational control of MACV for operations in South Vietnam and Route Pack 1 (the southern part of North Vietnam), but 7th Air Force was controlled by PACAF for operations in North Vietnam (Route Packs 5 and 6A). Air Force wings in Thailand were part of 13th Air Force in the Philippines, but were under the operational control of 7th Air Force in Saigon. At Udorn AB, Thailand, 7th/13th Air Force was headed by a general officer who was deputy commander of both 7th and 13th Air Forces. Aircraft based in South Vietnam were used primarily in South Vietnam. Aircraft in Thailand were used in North Vietnam and Laos. Strategic Air Command retained control of B-52 bombers, tankers, and strategic reconnaissance aircraft.

@UNIT_DESCRIPTIONS

@@UNIT_INDEX		
0,	;	559th Group
1,	;	Engineers
2,	;	ARVN Inf 65
3,	;	ARVN Airborne
4,	;	VC Main Force
5,	;	ARVN Inf 69
6,	;	ARVN Marines
7,	;	Khmer Rouge
8,	;	Pathet Lao
9,	;	VC Sapper
10,	;	PVA Infantry
11,	;	VC Mortar
12,	;	1st Marine
13,	;	3rd Marine
14,	;	PVA Type 59
15,	;	T-34/85
16,	;	PT-76
17,	;	T-55
18,	;	A-1 Skyraider *
19,	;	VC Local
20,	;	NVA Regular
21,	;	NVA Elite
22,	;	NVA Sapper
23,	;	PVA Type 63
24,	;	105mm Art. US
25,	;	155mm Art. US
26,	;	M110 175mm
27,	;	ARVN Rangers
28,	;	ARVN 1st Div
29,	;	122mm Art.
30,	;	152mm Art.
31,	;	BM-21 Grad
32,	;	ZSU-57
33,	;	M113 APC ARVN
34,	;	M-41 Bulldog
35,	;	M-48 Patton
36,	;	Centurion
37,	;	105mm Art. AZ
38,	;	105mm Art. FK
39,	;	105mm Art. TH
40,	;	155mm Art. SV
41,	;	M113 APC (1st)
42,	;	M113 APC (4th)
43,	;	M113 APC (5th)
44,	;	M113 APC (25th)
45,	;	F-100 Sabre
46,	;	F-105 Thunderchief
47,	;	F-4C Phantom
48,	;	F-4E Phantom
49,	;	B-57 Canberra
50,	;	B-52 Stratofort
51,	;	F-111 Aardvark
52,	;	199th Infantry
53,	;	18th MP
54,	;	MIG-17 Fresco
55,	;	MIG-19 Farmer
56,	;	MIG-21 Fishbed
57,	;	M113 ACAV US
58,	;	M-551 Sheridan
59,	;	M113 APC OI
60,	;	M-48 Patton OI
61,	;	M109 155mm OI
62,	;	MK II PBR
63,	;	1st Cavalry
64,	;	1st Infantry
65,	;	4th Infantry
66,	;	5th Infantry
67,	;	6th Infantry
68,	;	9th Infantry
69,	;	23rd Infantry
70,	;	25th Infantry
71,	;	82nd Airborne
72,	;	101st Airborne
73,	;	173rd Airborne
74,	;	ANZAC Inf.
75,	;	27th Natl Guard
76,	;	26th Marines
77,	;	ROK 9th Div
78,	;	ROK CAP Div
79,	;	ROK Marines
80,	;	105mm Art. KR
81,	;	No OPS
82,	;	Air OPS
83,	;	Full OPS
84,	;	105mm Art. SV
85,	;	NLF HQ
86,	;	VC Base Camp
87,	;	Ambush
88,	;	Thai Inf.
89,	;	UH-1 US
90,	;	F-5 Tiger
91,	;	A-37 Dragonfly
92,	;	FANK Inf.
93,	;	CIDG Striker
94,	;	Popular Forces
95,	;	Special Forces
96,	;	A-1 Skyraider
97,	;	AH-1 Cobra
98,	;	Tunnel Rats
99,	;	SAM Missile
100,	;	Naval Shell
101,	;	Firebase
102,	;	Hamlet
103,	;	LPH
104,	;	CVN Battlegroup
105,	;	USS New Jersey
106,	;	57mm AA
107,	;	85mm AA
108,	;	SA-2 Guideline
109,	;	CH-47 Chinook
110,	;	UH-1 ARVN
111,	;	NVA Garrison
112,	;	A-4 Skyhawk
113,	;	F-4B Phantom
114,	;	A-6 Intruder
115,	;	A-7 Corsair
116,	;	F-8 Crusader
117,	;	Oil Depot
118,	;	Ind Zone I
119,	;	Ind Zone II
120,	;	HCMT Hub I
121,	;	HCMT Hub II
122,	;	HCMT Hub III
123,	;	View
124,	;	101st Airmobile
125,	;	SVN Police
-2,	; 	MUST BE HERE! TERMINATOR!


@@00 559th Group

The 559th Group was a transportation and logistical unit of the People's Army of Vietnam that was subordinate to the Rear Services General Directorate. Group 559 was established on 19 May 1959 in order to move troops, weapons, and material (by sea and land) from the North Vietnam to South Vietnam and to build and maintain support facilities en route. The troop consisted with two transportation battalions.

The purpose of this unit was to establish supply lines from North Vietnam to Vietcong paramilitary units in South Vietnam. This task was made more difficult by the presence of a demilitarized zone (DMZ) on the border separating the two countries, though the North Vietnamese did send some supplies across the DMZ, their major infrastructure went around it. 

Group 559 developed road lines through Laos and Cambodia that fed into various areas of northern and western South Vietnam. This system of roads became known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and was used under the supervision of Group 559 to infiltrate weapons, ammunition, and cadres into the South.

After the commitment of U.S. and allied forces to the Vietnam War in 1965, Group 559 moved a volume of supplies nearly equal to the total volume of the preceding five years. Increasing North Vietnamese involvement, including the introduction of large ground units, in the southern war and U.S. interdiction of PAVN's logistical system at sea sharply increased the group's overland route. On April 3, 1965, Group 559 acquired the corps-level status of a Military Region reporting directly to the Military Affairs Party Committee and the General Staff, with three subordinate commands for the supply corridors through Laos.

Preparations for large-scale main force offensives, both during and after the U.S. withdrawal sharply increased logistical requirements. In July 1973 the group, redesignated the Truong Son Command, converted sectoral and way station forces into divisions or regiments and established five additional regiments. 

By late 1974, forces under its command included Anti-Aircraft Division 377, Infantry Division 968, the 5 regional commands (division-level): 470th, 471st, 472nd, 473rd and 571st plus fourteen regiments and various repair facilities and hospitals with total personnel of 100,495.

@@01 Engineers

The 18th Engineer Brigade entered Vietnam in September 1965 with the responsibility for overseeing all Army Engineering operations in Vietnam until the establishment of the U.S. Army Engineer Command, Vietnam, in late 1966. Its battalions saw six years of combat service and supported fourteen campaigns, building infrastructure for both military and civilian projects. The brigade participated in a massive number of road construction projects and airfield constructions, supporting numerous infantry units and operating all over Vietnam.

Its initial activities centered around rapid development of the port facilities, ammunition dumps, base camps and airfields necessary to support the build-up of US combat forces deploying to Vietnam. During the initial construction phases its combat engineer battalions also provided support for search and destroy missions and defensive operations with the 101st Airborne Division near Ninh Hoa and the 4th Infantry Division at Pleiku.

The Lines of Communication Program, which represents the most significant contribution that the 18th Engineer Brigade had made to the economic growth of Vietnam, consisted of about 1,500 kilometers of road upgrade from 1967 to 1972. After a slow start in the beginning of this work, the Brigade finished some 560 kilometers of highway reconstruction, and improvement in 1970 and another 450 kilometers were scheduled for completion in 1971 by Brigade units.

In support of the XXIV Corps, the 18th Brigade mounted what was described as the "most ambitious engineering effort in Vietnam" at the end of January 1971. The Brigade engineers pushed a roadway across the rugged terrain of the northern Quang Tri Province to the Laotian border and constructed a 3,200-foot (980 m) by 60-foot (18 m) airfield in little more than a month at Khe Sanh. This construction effort was part of Operation Dewey Canyon II.

On 20 September 1971 the Brigade was inactivated. Over the six years that it served in Vietnam, the 18th Engineer Brigade was involved in 14 of 17 campaigns, earning four Meritorious Unit Commendations.

@@02 ARVN Inf 65

After the French surrendered at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954, the United States transformed the fragmented Vietnamese National Army, whose loyalty to foreigners was questionable, into the new Army of the Republic of Vietnam.

The ARVN was organized along the lines of Western forces, emphasizing conventional methods of warfare that included artillery, armor, and large-scale infantry formations. This format complemented the U.S. government's global outlook in the 1950s: specifically, the People's Republic of China (PRC) had been identified as a potential threat that required the creation of armies in select Asian nations.

By 1960, this prognosis had proved faulty, but by then it was too late to alter the U.S. approach to training the ARVN. In addition, U.S. advisers were products of their own system and could only teach what they knew. Thus, little, if any, emphasis was placed on the political aspects of a war of national liberation such as that espoused by North Vietnam.

The United States classified the conflict in Vietham a "low-intensity conflict," and mistakenly believed that it could be rapidly solved by the South Vietnamese army. It became clear during the war that the ARVN's conventional format reduced its ability, to deal with small groups of highly mobile guerrilla soldiers operating primarily at night. The ARVN's methods became predictable; its divisions were basically tied to specific areas of responsibility, from which they rarely moved.

The ARVN's first major engagement against the Viet Cong occurred at Ap Bac in 1963 and revealed serious deficiencies in command and control, tactics, and the judicious use of resources. A fundamental cause of the ARVN's failure was its operational format, yet MAAG-V again discounted the possibility that the U.S. approach to training the ARVN might be inappropriate for local conditions.

By 1965, U.S. forces were committed to the conflict, which had both positive and negative influences on the ARVN. On the positive side, the ARVN, now supported directly by U.S. military forces, seemed incapable of losing. A series of decisions at the Honolulu and Manila conferences in 1966, however, reassigned 50 percent of the ARVN's total strength to pacification duties, thus preventing novice troops from acquiring valuable combat experience, which they would later need.

@@03 ARVN Airborne

The history of the Airborne Division goes back to August 1, 1951 when the 1st Airborne Battalion was formed by the French from Vietnamese elements of T.A.P.I. (Troupes Aroports en Indochine). Five airborne battalions (1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th) were formed during the French era.

From the onset of the Vietnam War, the Airborne Division was an elite unit with a proud combat record, the division at one time or another fought in virtually every part of South Vietnam as well as in Cambodia (1970-71) and Laos (1971). The Airborne Division relied entirely on volunteers to fill its ranks.

In February, 1971, Operation LAM SON 719, was initiated in Laos. The ARVN Airborne Division, with the 1st Armored Brigade attached, the ARVN 1st Infantry Division, and the ARVN Rangers were involved in the operation. The ARVN forces ran into a superior North Vietnamese force fighting on a battlefield that the enemy had carefully prepared and eventually was compelled to retreat.

Afterwards, the Division was deployed to the northern part of Military Region 1 in mid-1972. Finally, in a battle lasting from August to December 1974, the NVA 304th Division overran the key outpost of Thuong Duc in the mountains west of Da Nang and defeated a series of determined counterattacks mounted by two divisions, the 3d ARVN and the elite Airborne Division. This victory convinced NVA leadership that their soldiers could now defeat even the best ARVN troops and the surge to complete the take over of South Vietnam was on.

@@04 VC Main Force

The elite of the VC were the chu luc or Main Force Units, made up of full-time fighters. These units generally reported to one of the Interzone headquarters or were controlled directly by COSVN. Many of the soldiers were southern-born and had been trained in the north before re-infiltrating back to serve the Revolution. 

A majority of main-force fighters were party members, wore the pith helmet common to the NVA, carried the same weapons, and could operate in battalion or even regimental size strengths. 

A typical battalion was similar to a NVA one, with 400600 men organized into 3 infantry companies backed by a fire support company. Recon, signals, sapper and logistics units rounded out the formation.

@@05 ARVN Inf 69

By 1969, the ARVN contained nearly 1 million troops representing ten divisions, marine, ranger, and airborne units, artillery and armored commands, plus a territorial forces network. By that year the ARVN, as well as U.S. forces, had failed permanently to eliminate the operations of the PAVN and the Viet Cong yet had paid a high cost in lives and casualties because of faulty strategies and a basic reliance on a war of attrition, that is, sustained massive firepower supplemented by a prodigious waste of human resources.

North Vietnam's 1968 Tet Offensive provided the ARVN with an opportunity to show initiative in the type of battle for which it had been trained. However, its successes and those of U.S. forces were obscured by media coverage that focused on U.S. and South Vietnamese vulnerability in South Vietnam and strengthened the position of critics who argued that the United States should disengage immediately. 

When South Vietnamese officials came to understand fully that as a consequence of Vietnamization (1969-1972) direct U.S. military intervention would gradually cease, the ARVN's post-Tet Offensive elation was replaced by wary pessimism. Upgrading the RVNAF materially and financially so that it could assume complete control of the war, the essence of Vietnamization, would only succeed if the South Vietnamese were capable of fulfilling such a task.

Though Nixon's Vietnamization policy would help rearm most of the ARVN units with more modern equipment, the United States would not sufficiently develop an independent logistical command within the RVNAF. For example, in 1972 the RVNAF required 381,000 specific items on a continual basis. These included ammunition, uniforms, spare parts, and other items essential to the war effort.

Not unexpectedly, the South Vietnamese found these new demands daunting, if not impossible to fulfill. As a result, on-the-job training occurred concurrently with regular duties; staff with no logistical background often were in charge of vital areas beyond their comprehension. Predictably, results were poor; services malfunctioned, or ceased to exist, which directly influenced the war effort.

On the positive side, U.S. advisory assistance and tactical air support was still present, although it was known that these assets also would be withdrawn. 

Overall, the ARVN in 1969 was incapable of managing its war effort independently because of ongoing, seemingly uncorrectable, internal problems and continued reliance on the United States. The army's vulnerable status was again confirmed in Cambodia and Laos and during the 1972 Easter Offensive.

@@06 ARVN Marines

On October 1, 1954, the Viet Nam Marine Corps (VNMC) was formally created as part of Vietnams Navy and included one landing battalion, six riverboat companies, five combat support light infantry companies, one raiding party, headquarters and training units.

In October, 1968, the Marine Division officially came into being and was composed of maneuver battalions, the three artillery battalions, and various support elements. 

The VNMC, which was composed entirely of volunteers, saw action in all parts of the Republic of Vietnam and also in Cambodia (1970-71) and Laos (1971). In the field, Marine battalions were frequently placed under the operational control of brigades other than their parent Brigade.

The Marine Division remained part of the RVNAF general reserve along with the Airborne Division and was deployed in Quang Tri province in 1972. It had operated in northern MR 1 since the Communist Spring Offensive of 1972 and maintained a forward headquarters in Quang Tri. Marine units recaptured Quang Tri City on September 16, 1972 after its abandonment by ARVN troops in May 1972.

@@07 Khmer Rouge

Khmer Rouge was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia. In July 1963, Pol Pot, the party's general secretary, and most of the central committee left Phnom Penh to establish an insurgent base in Ratanakiri Province in the northeast. 

The region where Pol Pot and the others moved to was inhabited by tribal minorities, the Khmer Loeu, whose rough treatment (including resettlement and forced assimilation) at the hands of the central government made them willing recruits for a guerrilla struggle. Pol Pot received some training in China, which had enhanced his prestige when he returned to the WPK's "liberated areas".

In 1968, the Khmer Rouge was officially formed and its forces launched a national insurgency across Cambodia. Though North Vietnam had not been informed of the decision, its forces provided shelter and weapons to the Khmer Rouge after the insurgency started. Vietnamese support for the insurgency made it impossible for the Cambodian military to effectively counter it. For the next two years the insurgency grew as Sihanouk did very little to stop it. As the insurgency grew stronger, the party finally openly declared itself to be the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK).

The political appeal of the Khmer Rouge was increased as a result of the situation created by the removal of Sihanouk as head of state in 1970. Premier Lon Nol, with the support of the National Assembly, deposed Sihanouk. Sihanouk, in exile in Beijing, made an alliance with the Khmer Rouge and became the nominal head of a Khmer Rougedominated government-in-exile (known by its French acronym, GRUNK) backed by China. The Nixon administration, although thoroughly aware of the weakness of Lon Nol's forces and loath to commit American military force to the new conflict in any form other than air power, announced its support of the newly proclaimed Khmer Republic.

On 29 March 1970, the North Vietnamese launched an offensive against the Cambodian army with documents uncovered from the Soviet archives revealing that the invasion was launched at the explicit request of the Khmer Rouge following negotiations with Nuon Chea. 

A force of North Vietnamese quickly overran large parts of eastern Cambodia reaching to within 15 miles (24 km) of Phnom Penh before being pushed back. By June, three months after the removal of Sihanouk, they had swept government forces from the entire northeastern third of the country. 

After defeating those forces, the North Vietnamese turned the newly won territories over to the local insurgents. The Khmer Rouge also established "liberated" areas in the south and the southwestern parts of the country, where they operated independently of the North Vietnamese.

After Sihanouk showed his support for the Khmer Rouge by visiting them in the field, their ranks swelled from 6,000 to 50,000 fighters. Many of the new recruits for the Khmer Rouge were apolitical peasants who fought in support of the King, not for communism, of which they had little understanding. 

Sihanouk's popular support in rural Cambodia allowed the Khmer Rouge to extend its power and influence to the point that by 1973 it exercised de facto control over the majority of Cambodian territory, although only a minority of its population. Many people in Cambodia who helped the Khmer Rouge against the Lon Nol government thought they were fighting for the restoration of Sihanouk.

By 1975, with the Lon Nol government running out of ammunition, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the government would collapse. On April 17, 1975 the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh. 

@@08 Pathet Lao

The Pathet Lao was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The group was ultimately successful in assuming political power in 1975, after the Laotian Civil War. The Pathet Lao were always closely associated with Vietnamese communists. During the civil war, it was effectively organized, equipped and even led by the Army of North Vietnam. They fought against the anti-communist forces in the Vietnam War.

The Pathet Lao were the Laotian equivalent of South Vietnam's Viet Minh and later Viet Cong, and Cambodia's Khmer Rouge. Eventually, the term became the generic name for Laotian communists.

In the 1960s, more attempts at neutrality agreements and coalition government were attempted but as North Vietnam had no intention of withdrawing from Laos, these agreements all failed. By the mid-1960s, the country had fallen into proxy warfare between pro-US and pro-Vietnamese irregular military groups. In 1968, the Army of North Vietnam launched a multi-division invasion of Laos. The Pathet Lao were pushed to the side in the conflict and reduced to the role of an auxiliary force to the North Vietnamese army. Unable to match the heavy Soviet and Chinese weapons in addition to the numerical strength of the Vietnamese forces, the Royal Lao Army took itself out of the conflict after heavy losses.

The communist forces battled the Royal Lao Army, US irregular forces (including Air America and other contract employees and Hmong commandos), and Thai volunteer forces in Laos winning effective control in the north and east. The government itself was effectively powerless. The Pathet Lao held hundreds of US "detainees" as prisoners of war during and after the Vietnam War (Second Indochina War).

Shortly after the Paris Peace Accords ended US involvement in the Vietnam War, the Pathet Lao and the government of Laos signed a cease-fire agreement, the Vientiane Treaty, in February 1973.

@@09 VC Sapper

The NVA used special assault troops or sappers for a wide range of missions, sometimes by themselves, or sometimes as spearheads for a main-force echelon. The Viet Cong also deployed sappers particularly after Tet Offensive losses had made large-scale attacks hazardous. 

Called dac cong by the Vietnamese, sappers were a force economy measure that could deliver a stinging blow. They were an elite, especially adept at infiltrating and attacking airfields, firebases and other fortified positions. 

About 50,000 men served in PAVN as sappers, organized into groups of 100-150 men, further broken down into companies of roughly 30-36 men, with sub-divisions into platoons, squads and cells. Specialist troops such as radiomen, medics, and explosives experts were also attached. Many were volunteers. 

Sappers were often assigned to larger units (regiments, divisions etc.) - carrying out attacks and recon duties, but could also be organized as independent formations. Sappers trained and rehearsed carefully in all aspects of their craft and made use of a variety of equipment and explosive devices, including captured or abandoned American munitions.

Sappers also carried out intelligence missions and could work undercover. One of the sappers in the spectacular 1968 Tet Offensive attack against the US Embassy for example, was once a driver to the US Ambassador.

@@10 PVA Infantry

The (Chinese) People's Volunteer Army (PVA or CPVA) was the armed forces deployed by the People's Republic of China during the Korean War. Although all units in the Chinese Peoples Volunteer Army belonged to the People's Liberation Army (the official name of the Chinese armed forces), the People's Volunteer Army was separately constituted in order to prevent an official war with the United States.

Chinese intervention into the Vietnamese War was one of the great concerns of the Johnson administration and the President and his advisors went to great lenghts to avoid any incident that might precipitate such an action.

There is little doubt that an invasion of North Vietnam by Amercian forces or its allies would have been such a trigger and like Korea seen large scale Chinese infantry 'volunteer' formations, supported by artillery, armor and airpower cross the border to the defense of that nation.

@@11 VC Mortar

Overall, the supplies and equipment of communist units were adequate, and their infantry small-arms were a match for those of their opponents. Contrary to some popular impressions of simple peasant farmers armed with pitchfork and machetes, the VC/NVA main units (as well as the local forces in the latter years) were well equipped with modern arms either from Soviet bloc or Chinese sources. 

In the early years of the insurgency in the South a larger variety of weapons were used, ranging from World War I-era bolt-action rifles to World War II-era weapons, with procurement via a wide range of methods. 

Such variation and diversity continued throughout the conflict. By 1970 however, the communist inventory was increasingly standardized, even at the village guerrilla level. 

Communist units employed mortars frequently, with the Soviet 82mm and its Chinese variants being the most common. French 60mm mortars also saw some use.

@@12 1st Marine

The 7th Marines regiment of the 1st Marine division arrived in Vietnam in August 1965. The Division headquarters opened at Chu Lai in October 1965, and by June 1966, the entire Division was in Vietnam. In August 1965, the 7th Marines took part in the first major offensive operation in South Vietnam, Operation STARLIGHT on Quang Ngai Province. 

During 1966 and 1967, Division operations consisted primarily of offensive sweeps. Operations UNION II and SWIFT, and counter-guerilla operations in the areas of Quang Nam, Quang Tin and Quang Ngai Provinces.

In January 1968, when the North Vietnamese launched their TET Offensive, the 1st and 5th Marines took part in the hard battle to drive the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong from Hue, the old imperial capital. Elements of the Division also took part in Operation PEGASUS, the relief of Khe Sahn, in April. The 5th and 7th Marines fought several sharp battles during Meade River, the largest Marine helo assault of the war in November. 

By 1969, the war in the 1st Marine Division area of operations was marked by ambushes and small unit actions, with the emphasis on expanding the security of populated areas.

During 1969 and 1970, the Division conducted operations in Happy Valley, Dodge City and the Que Son Mountains and, at the same time increased the number of Combined Action Platoons, to improve security of isolated villages and hamlets by providing rifle squads to work with Regional and Popular Force units. The Division mounted its last battalion size operations in the summer of 1970.

Elements of the 1st Marine Division began leaving Vietnam in October 1970, and by April 1971, the entire Division had returned to Camp Pendleton, California. Twenty-three members of the Division won the Medal of Honor in Vietnam.

@@13 3rd Marine

On 6 May 1965, the 3rd Marine Division opened the Marine Compound at the Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam. They were the first American combat troops to be sent to Vietnam to protect the Da Nang Air Base. By the end of 1965 the Division had all its regiments (3rd Marines, 4th Marines and 9th Marines) on the ground. In October 1966, then commanding general Lew Walt was ordered to establish strong points just south of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). 

The division moved its headquarters from Da Nang to Phu Bai in late 1966. At the same time the division was also building outposts along the southern half of the DMZ at Con Thien, Gio Linh, Cam Lo and Dong Ha. During this period, Lima Company of the 3rd Marines was commanded by John Ripley, who became famous for single-handedly destroying the bridge at Dong Ha in 1972, slowing the advance of the North Vietnamese army.

The first major multi-regiment operations against the North Vietnamse Army was Operation Hastings in July 1966. Operation Prairie followed in October. This area would come to be known as Leatherneck Square. In late 1967 the headquarters moved again from Phu Bai to Dong Ha in the Quang Tri Province and more outposts were opened. Camp Carroll, Rockpile, Ca Lu and Khe Sanh. 

The two main enemy divisions the Marines fought were the 324B NVA Division and the 320th NVA Division. On November 14, 1967 the 3rd Marine Division commander General Bruno Hochmuth was killed northwest of Hue City in a helicopter crash. Some of the major operations in 1967 and early 1968 in this area were Operation Prairie III, Operation Prairie IV, Operation Hickory, Operation Cimarron, Operation Buffalo, Operation Kingfisher and Operation Kentucky. Nearly 8,000 NVA were killed during this time period. The Marines suffered over 1400 killed and over 9,000 wounded. There were five Medal of Honors awarded and nearly 40 Navy Crosses given during this period of time. For its service in the Republic of Vietnam the division was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation in 1967.

During the Tet Offensive, the division conducted operations along the DMZ with a portion of the division fighting in Hue. The operational tempo increased with the initiation of the Tet Offensive in late January 1968. The NVA and VC stepped up their attacks by fire on every combat base in the division area of operations. This included daily attempts at interdiction of naval traffic on the Cua Viet River near Dong Ha. The division had to invest many of its assets to open the Cua Viet River to traffic. BLT 5/l, the Landing Force of SLF B, remained under the operational control (OPCON) of the division throughout February 1968. BLT 3/l continued Operation SALINE under operational control of the 1st Amtrac Bn with the mission of clearing the area adjacent to the Cua Viet River between Cua Viet and Dong Ha . BLT 2/4, the Landing Force of SLF A, remained under operational control of the Division throughout the month. BLT 2/4 conducted operations in the LANCASTER II and KENTUCKY areas.

The 3rd Marine Division departed South Vietnam in November 1969 with more than 20 Marines receiving the Medal of Honor. They moved to Camp Courtney.

@@14 PVA Type 59

The Type 59 main battle tank is a Chinese-produced version of the Soviet T-54A tank, the earliest model of the ubiquitous T-54/55 series. The first vehicles were produced in 1958 and it was accepted into service in 1959, with serial production beginning in 1963. Over 10,000 of the tanks were produced by the time production ended in 1980 with approximately 5,500 serving with the Chinese armed forces. The tank formed the backbone of the Chinese People's Liberation Army until the early 2000s (decade) with an estimated 5,000 of the later Type 59-I and Type 59-II variants in service in 2002.

Essentially the Type 59 is almost identical to the early production Soviet T-54As, however there are some key differences. The Type 59 was not originally fitted with the infrared searchlight or main gun stabilization of the T-54.

The Type 59 has a conventional post-war layout with the fighting compartment at the front, an engine compartment at the rear, and a cast dome-shaped gun turret in the centre of the hull. The hull is welded steel varying in thickness between 99 mm on the front lower glacis to 20 mm on the hull floor. The turret varies from 39100 mm thick.

The Sino-Vietnamese War was the largest use of tanks to date in Chinese military history. China committed nearly 300 Type 59, Type 62, and Type 63 tanks into the conflict, of which 48 were lost to Vietnamese action. The tanks of 42nd Corps as the vanguard force responsible for cutting off the city of Cao Bang bore the brunt of the losses, advancing only 30 km in 3 days. The poor performance of tanks in this battle was attributed to the mountainous terrain in North Vietnam that was inherently unsuited for mechanized warfare. The light armor on the Type 62 variant also proved inadequate in protection against small anti-tank weapons.

@@15 T-34/85

The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank which had a profound and lasting effect on the field of tank design. Although its armour and armament were surpassed later in the war, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient, and influential tank design of World War II. At its introduction, the T-34 possessed an unprecedented combination of firepower, mobility, protection, and ruggedness.

Given the sheer numbers manufactured, it is not surprising that they have been sold or supplied to more than 30 different states after WWII.

The NVA had a number of T-34/85 units during the Vietnam conflict but, due to their age, these saw little service. In the 1972 Quang Tri offensive, at least one T-34 regiment was committed to fighting near the DMZ, but appears to have been decimated by B-52 strikes.

@@16 PT-76

The PT-76 is a Soviet amphibious light tank which was introduced in the early 1950s and soon became the standard reconnaissance tank of the Soviet Army and the other Warsaw Pact armed forces. It was widely exported to other friendly states, like India, Iraq, Syria, North Korea and North Vietnam.

PT-76s along with T-54s, T-55s, Type 59s and Type 62 tanks formed the bulk of the NVA armored forces.

The first successful action of NVA armor in Vietnam was against the Lang Vei Special Forces camp on 6/7 February 1968 (they had already been used in the preceding Battle of Ban Houei Sane, which was just across the border in Laos however). 

Thirteen PT-76s, of the NVA 202nd Armored Regiment spearheaded an assault against approximately 24 Green Berets and 500 irregulars. The defenders fought back with their 106 mm M40 recoilless rifle (one at the entrance took out three PT-76s until it was knocked out), and ineffectively with M72 LAWs (one-shot disposable 66mm Light Anti-Tank Weapon). They requested support from nearby Khe Sanh, which was unable to help, as it too was under siege. 

The Lang Vei camp was overrun, with the PT-76s using their turret-mounted spotlight to machine gun any irregulars who panicked and ran out of the underground bunkers. A few survivors broke out and were airlifted to safety.

@@17 T-55

In the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese NVA used T-54s against the South Vietnamese ARVN and US forces.

The NVA and ARVN engaged each other for the first time during Operation Lam Son 719, in February 1971. During that battle, 17 M41 light tanks of the ARVN 1st Armored Brigade destroyed 22 NVA-tanks, 6 T-54 and 16 PT-76, at no loss to themselves, but the friendly units lost 5 M41s and 25 APCs.

On Easter Sunday, 2 April 1972, the newly activated ARVN 20th Tank Regiment, consisting of approximately 57 M48A3 Patton tanks (ARVN regiments were equivalent to US battalions, and ARVN squadrons were equivalent to US companies or troops) received reports of a large NVA tank column moving towards Dong Ha (the largest South Vietnamese city near the DMZ at the 17th parallel). At about noon, the crewmen of the ARVN 1st Squadron observed enemy armour moving south along highway 1 towards Dong Ha, and concealed their tanks on high ground with a good vantage point. Waiting for the NVA column to close to between 2,500 and 3,000 meters, the 90-mm guns of the Pattons opened fire, quickly destroying nine PT-76 light tanks and two T-54 medium tanks. The remaining NVA armour, unable to see their enemy, turned about and withdrew.

NVA armour units equipped with the T-54 tank achieved one of their greatest victories in April 1972, when the NVA 203rd Armored Regiment attacked the ARVN 22nd Infantry Division at Tn Canh, which dominated a main route into the city of Kon Tum. After a two-day artillery barrage, eighteen T-54 tanks from the 203rd regiment attacked the 22nd Division at dawn from two directions, breaking the ARVN unit, which quickly abandoned its positions. T-54 tank No. 377 had destroyed seven M41s before itself had been destroyed by M72 LAW rocket launchers. The NVA destroyed 18 M41 tanks and 31 M113 armored personnel carriers and captured 17 other M41s, while losing only two T-54 tanks and one PT-76 tank.

@@18 A-1 Skyraider *

The A-1 Skyraider was the close air support workhorse of the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) for much of the Vietnam War. 

By 1962 the VNAF had 22 of the aircraft in its inventory, and by 1968 an additional 131 aircraft had been received. Initially Navy aviators and crews were responsible for training their South Vietnamese counterparts on the aircraft, but over time responsibility was gradually transferred to the USAF.

Over the course of the war, the VNAF acquired a total of 308 Skyraiders, and was operating six A-1 squadrons by the end of 1965. These were reduced during the period of Vietnamization from 1968 to 1972, as the U.S. began to supply the South Vietnamese with more modern close air support aircraft, such as the Cessna A-37 and Northrop F-5, and at the beginning of 1968, only three of its squadrons were flying A-1s.

As the U.S. ended its direct involvement in the war, it transferred the remainder of its Skyraiders to the South Vietnamese, and by 1973, all remaining Skyraiders in U.S. inventories had been turned over to the VNAF. Unlike their American counterparts, whose combat tours were generally limited to 12 months, individual South Vietnamese Skyraider pilots ran up many thousands of combat hours in the A-1, and many senior VNAF pilots were extremely skilled in the operation of the aircraft.

@@19 VC Local

Village, hamlet or local guerrillas were part-time fighters and helpers, carrying out minor harassment operations like sniping or mine/booby trap laying, building local fortifications or supply caches, and transporting supplies and equipment. Mostly peasant farmers, these militia style units were under the control of low level NLF or Front leadership.

Regional or territorial units were also full-time soldiers but they generally served within or close to their home provinces. They did not have the degree of literacy of the main-force personnel, and did not have the percentage of Party members present in their ranks. They were not as well armed as the chu luc and usually operated in units that seldom exceeded company strength.

@@20 NVA Regular

The People's Army of Vietnam, also known as the Vietnamese People's Army and the Vietnam People's Army, is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The PAVN is a part of Vietnam People's Armed Forces.

During the French Indochina War (19461954), the PAVN was often referred to as the Viet Minh. In the context of the Vietnam War (19591975), the army was referred to as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). This allowed writers, the US military, and the general public, to distinguish northern communists from the southern communists, or Viet Cong. However, both groups ultimately worked under the same command structure. According to Hanoi's official history, the Vietcong was a branch of the VPA.

Regular formations were sent to Southern Vietnam from 1965 onwards; the 325th Division's 101B Regiment and the 66th Regiment of the 304th Division met US forces on a large scale, a first for the PAVN, at the Battle of Ia Drang Valley in November 1965. 

The 308th Division's 88A Regiment, the 312th Division's 141A, 141B, 165A, 209A, the 316th Division's 174A, the 325th Division's 95A, 95B, the 320A Division also faced the US forces which included the 1st Cavalry Division, the 101st Airborne Division, the 173d Airborne Brigade, the 4th Infantry Division, the 1st Infantry Division, and the 25th Infantry Division. 

Those PAVN formations were seen as extremely brave forces by the US forces. Many of those formations later became main forces of the 3rd Division (Yellow Star Division) in Binh Dinh (1965), the 5th Division (1966) of 7th Military Zone (Capital Tactical Area of ARVN), the 7th (created by 141st and 209th Regiments originated in the 312th Division in 1966) and 9th Divisions (first Division of National Liberation Front of Vietnam in 1965 in Mekong Delta), the 10th Dakto Division in Dakto  Highland in 1972 south of Vietnam.

@@21 NVA Elite

The typical NVA division had a strength of approximately 10,000 men grouped into three infantry regiments, with a supporting artillery regiment or battalion, and signals, engineers, medical and logistic formations. The artillery units were generally armed with mortars although they might use heavier weapons in an extended set-piece operation. The regiments were generally broken down into 3 foot-soldier battalions of 500600 men each, along with the supporting units. Each battalion in turn was subdivided into companies and platoons, with heavy weapons units augmenting the small arms of the line troops.

PAVN placed great importance on the unit histories of its infantry divisions. Of special significance are the original six 'Steel and Iron' Divisions, many of which have assumed an honored status similar to the Guards Divisions in the Soviet Army. The Steel and Iron Divisions usually get the best equipment, and some have been chosen for conversion to mechanized divisions. During times of decreased hostilities, regular divisions are sometimes reduced to brigades.

The 308 Infantry Division (the first mobile regular unit of the VPA) was established on August 28, 1949 in Don Du town, Dong Hy district, Thai Nguyen province. It consisted of 3 infantry brigades (88, 102, 36), the 11 Infantry Regiment (Phu Thong Regiment), the 410 Artillery Regiment and affiliated units. In 1950 the PAVN had only three Infantry Divisions the 304th, 308th, and 320th. In May 1951 Chinese advisors equipped the 316th, 320th, and 325th Infantry Divisions these were the six "Steel and Iron" divisions. By the end of 1952, the PAVN had three more Infantry Divisions. 

Both the VC and NVA formations operated under a "system of three"  three cells to a squad, three squads to a platoon, 3 companies to a battalion etc. This could vary depending on operational circumstances. Small-arms dominated the armament of typical infantry battalions, which deployed the standard infantry companies, logistical support, and heavy weapons sub-units of modern formations. Heavier weapons like 81 mm mortars or recoilless rifles and machines guns were at the battalions combat support company. Members of the combat support unit were also responsible for placing mines and booby traps. Special detachments or platoons included sappers, recon, signals, etc. and were directly responsible to the battalion commander.

@@22 NVA Sapper

The NVA used special assault troops or sappers for a wide range of missions, sometimes by themselves, or sometimes as spearheads for a main-force echelon. The Viet Cong also deployed sappers particularly after Tet Offensive losses had made large-scale attacks hazardous. 

Called dac cong by the Vietnamese, sappers were a force economy measure that could deliver a stinging blow. They were an elite, especially adept at infiltrating and attacking airfields, firebases and other fortified positions. About 50,000 men served in PAVN as sappers, organized into groups of 100-150 men, further broken down into companies of roughly 30-36 men, with sub-divisions into platoons, squads and cells. 

Specialist troops such as radiomen, medics, and explosives experts were also attached. Many were volunteers. Sappers were often assigned to larger units (regiments, divisions etc.) - carrying out attacks and recon duties, but could also be organized as independent formations. Sappers trained and rehearsed carefully in all aspects of their craft and made use of a variety of equipment and explosive devices, including captured or abandoned American munitions. 

Sappers also carried out intelligence missions and could work undercover. One of the sappers in the spectacular 1968 Tet Offensive attack against the US Embassy for example, was once a driver to the US Ambassador

@@23 PVA Type 63

The Type 63 (industrial designation YW531) is a Chinese armoured personnel carrier that entered service in the late 1960s. It was the first armoured vehicle designed in China without Soviet assistance. The design is simple and is comparable to other APCs of its time such as the M113.

Approximately 8,000 all types and variants were produced by Norinco, making it the third most widely manufactured AFV in the world. It also equips several armies around the world and has seen action in different conflicts including the Vietnam War, the Sino-Vietnamese War, the IranIraq War, the Gulf War, and infamously, in the crackdown of the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989.

The hull is made of welded steel, and provides protection against small arms fire. The vehicle carries a maximum of 15 including crew, which depending on the particular configuration may be two or four, the rest of the passengers are infantry who sit in a compartment at the rear of the vehicle. The driver sits in the front left of the hull, and has a single piece hatch, which opens to the left. The driver is provided with two day periscopes which cover the front and right of the vehicle.

A 12.7 millimetre calibre machine gun is located in an open mount at the front of a small hatch in the center of the hull which opens into the troop compartment. The gun can traverse through 360 degrees and can be elevated to an angle of 90 degrees. Two roof hatches and a large rear door provide access to the troop compartment.

The vehicle is amphibious, a folding trim board stowed at the front of the hull needs to be raised, and the vehicle can then propel itself in the water using its tracks.

@@24 105mm Art. US

The 105 mm M2A1 (M101A1) howitzer was a howitzer developed and used by the United States. It was the standard U.S. light field howitzer in World War II and saw action in both the European and Pacific theaters. Entering production in 1941, it quickly gained a reputation for accuracy and a powerful punch. The M101A1 fired 105-millimetre (4.1 in) high explosive (HE) semi-fixed ammunition and had a range of 11,270 metres (12,330 yd), making it suitable for supporting infantry.

The U.S. military artillery designation system was changed in 1962, redesignating the 105mm M2A1 howitzer the M101A1. The gun continued to see service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Though a similar model, the M102 howitzer, shared the same roles in battle, it never fully replaced the M101A1. Today, the M101A1 has been retired by the U.S. military, though it continues to see service with many other countries.

@@25 155mm Art. US

The M114 155 mm howitzer was a towed howitzer developed and used by the United States Army. It was first produced in 1942 as a medium artillery piece under the designation of 155 mm Howitzer M1. It saw service with the US Army during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, before being replaced by the M198 howitzer.

Design work on the weapon began in 1939 and spanned into 1941 to which the system cleared its requisite trials before being adopted into service. Production spanned from 1941 into 1953 to which some 10,300 units were eventually produced by the Rock Island Arsenal stateside and additional examples appearing under license elsewhere.

The gun was also used by the armed forces of many nations, including the Army of South Vietnam.

@@26 M110 175mm SPA

When the 7th Battalion (Bn), 15th Artillery (Arty) prepared for deployment to Vietnam in late 1966, it was armed with 8-inch Self-Propelled (SP) Howitzers designated as the US Army model M110. 

The 8-inch howitzer was the most accurate artillery weapon system in the US Armys arsenal. It was capable of firing a 200 pound High Explosive (HE) projectile to a maximum range of 16,800 meters (10 miles). Its best known feature was its ability to hit "Point Targets" with consistent accuracy.

@@27 ARVN Rangers

The Vietnamese Rangers, properly known in Vietnamese as the Biet Dong Quan, more commonly known as the ARVN Rangers, were the Rangers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Trained and assisted by American Special Forces and Ranger advisers, the Vietnamese Rangers infiltrated beyond enemy lines in daring search and destroy missions. 

Initially trained as a counter-insurgency light infantry force by removing the fourth company each of the existing infantry battalions, they later expanded into a swing force capable of conventional as well as counter-insurgency operations.

In the closing days of the war in 1975 most Ranger units were totally destroyed. Many fought back independently, refusing to surrender. In Saigon, Rangers fought until the morning of 30 April when they were ordered to lay down their arms, as their nation, the Republic of Vietnam, capitulated to the communist force. Most of the Ranger officers were considered too dangerous by the communist government and sentenced to long periods of incarceration in the "re-education" camps.

@@28 ARVN 1st Division

The French formed the 21st Mobile Group in 1953, renamed 21st Division in January 1955 and the 1st Division later that year. 

The 1st Division was the only one of the four original Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF) divisions which were formed from units raised in the vicinity of divisions ongoing area of operation.

Considered "one of the best South Vietnamese combat units" it had four rather than three regiments.

The Division was part of the I Corps that oversaw the northernmost region of South Vietnam, the centre of Vietnam and was based in Hue, the old imperial city and one of two major cities in the region, which was also the corps headquarters.

@@29 122mm Art.

The 122 mm howitzer M1938 (M-30) was a Soviet 121.92 mm (4.8 inch) howitzer. The weapon was developed by the design bureau of Motovilikha Plants, headed by F. F. Petrov, in the late 1930s, and was in production from 1939 to 1955. 

The M-30 saw action in World War II, mainly as a divisional artillery piece of the Red Army (RKKA). Captured guns were also employed later in the conflict by the German Wehrmacht and the Finnish Army. 

Post World War II the M-30 saw combat in numerous conflicts of the mid- to late twentieth century in service of other countries' armies, including North Vietnam. 

@@30 130mm Art.

The 130 mm towed field gun M-46 M1954 is a manually loaded artillery piece, manufactured in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. It was first observed by the west in 1954. There is also a Chinese copy, called Type 59.

For many years, the M-46 was one of the longest range artillery systems around, with a range of more than 27 km.

The M-46 saw extensive use by the NVA in Vietnam War, especially at the siege of Khe Sanh. It was regarded by both sides as the best all-round field artillery of the Vietnam War.

@@31 BM-21 Grad

The BM-21 "Grad", is a Soviet truck-mounted 122 mm multiple rocket launcher, and a M-21OF rocket were developed in the early 1960s. BM stands for boyevaya mashina (combat vehicle), and the nickname grad means "hail". The complete system with the BM-21 launch vehicle and the M-21OF rocket is designated as the M-21 Field Rocket System. The complete system is more commonly known as a Grad multiple rocket launcher system.

The M-21 Field Rocket Systems with a BM-21 launch vehicle (122 mm multiple rocket launcher (MRL) system entered service with the Soviet Army in 1963 to replace the ageing 140 mm BM-14 system). The launch vehicle consists of a Ural-375D six-by-six truck chassis fitted with a bank of 40 launch tubes arranged in a rectangular shape that can be turned away from the unprotected cab. The vehicle is powered by a water-cooled V-8 180 hp gasoline engine, has a maximum road speed of 75 km/h (47 mph), road range of up to 750 kilometers (470 mi), and can cross fords up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) deep. The original vehicle together with supporting equipment (including the re-supply truck 9T254 with 60 rockets) is referred to by the GRAU index 9K51.

The three-man crew can emplace the system and have it ready to fire in three minutes. The crew can fire the rockets from the cab or from a trigger at the end of a 64-meter (210 ft) cable. All 40 rockets can be away in as little as 20 seconds, but can also be fired individually or in small groups in several-second intervals. A PG-1M panoramic telescope with K-1 collimator can be used for sighting. The BM-21 can be packed up and ready to move in two minutes, which can be necessary when engaged by counter-battery fire. Reloading is done manually and takes about 10 minutes. 

@@32 ZSU-57

The ZSU-57 is a Soviet self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), armed with two 57 mm autocannons. 'ZSU' stands for Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka, meaning "anti-aircraft self-propelled mount", '57' stands for the bore of the armament in millimetres and '2' stands for the number of gun barrels. It was the first Soviet mass-produced tracked SPAAG. In the USSR it had the unofficial nickname "Sparka", meaning "pair", referring to the twin autocannon with which the vehicle is armed.

The ZSU-57-2 was used in combat for the first time in the Vietnam War by the Vietnam People's Army (VPA), beginning with the Easter Offensive in 1972. It also saw action during the Ho Chi Minh Campaign in 1975. Several batteries of ZSU-57's were used for the air defence of the 201st and 202nd tank regiments during the Easter Offensive of 1972. ZSU-57-2s were used by the VPA against US aircraft but it proved to be more effective against ground targets. South Vietnam also used captured ZSU-57-2s. About 500 ZSU-57-2s survived the war. 

@@33 M113 APC ARVN

On 30 March 1962, the first batch of 32 M113s arrived in Vietnam, and were sent to two Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) mechanized rifle companies, each equipped with 15 of the APCs (M113s). On 11 June 1962, the two mechanized units were fielded for the first time. 

During the Battle of Ap Bac in January 1963, at least fourteen of the exposed .50 caliber gunners aboard the M113s were killed in action, necessitating modifications to improve crew survivability. Soon, makeshift shields formed from metal salvaged from the hull(s) of sunken ships were fitted to the carriers, which afforded better protection. But, finding that this material could be penetrated by small arms fire, subsequent shields were constructed from scrapped armored vehicles.

The ARVN 80th Ordnance Unit in South Vietnam developed the shield idea further and commenced engineering general issue gun shields for the M113. These shields became the predecessor to the standardized Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle (or ACAV) variant and were issued to all ARVN mechanized units during the early 1960s. The ARVNs had modified the M113s to function as "amphibious light tanks" and not as battle taxis as US designers had intended. 

Instead of an armored personnel carrier, the ARVN used the carried infantry as extra "dismountable soldiers" in "an over-sized tank crew". These "ACAV" sets were eventually adapted to U.S. Army M113s with the arrival of the Army's conventional forces in 1965. 

The vehicles continued to operate in the role of a light tank and reconnaissance vehicle, and did not operate as designed in theater. Still, the M113 could carry 11 infantrymen inside, with two crewmen operating the M113.

@@34 M-41 Bulldog

In 1964 the M41 light tank was selected to replace the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) M24 Chaffee light tank, which they had inherited from the French after the First Indochina War. 

The first M41A3s arrived in January 1965, equipping five ARVN squadrons by the end of the year. The M41 was an instant success with South Vietnamese armor crewmen, who found its interior to be just perfect for their smaller statures, which had been a principal criticism by US armor crewmen.

In 1971, the ARVN and US forces commenced Operation Lam Son 719, a disruption of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) supply lines in neighboring Laos; a combination of armor and airmobile attacks on three axes into enemy held territory. 

The ARVN 1st Armor Brigade, accompanied by two airborne battalions and two cavalry regiments penetrated approximately 4 miles into Laos on 8 February, enemy reaction was swift, with this first engagement between NVA and ARVN tanks, the 17 M41s knocked out six T-54 tanks and sixteen lightly armored PT-76 amphibious tanks. Friendly units lost 5 M41s and 25 APCs

By 1973, over 200 M41 light tanks remained in service with the ARVN.

@@35 M-48 Patton

The M48s saw extensive action during the Vietnam War. Over 600 Pattons would be deployed with US Forces during the war. The initial M48s landed with the US Marine 1st and 3rd Tank Battalions in 1965. Remaining Pattons deployed to South Vietnam were in three U.S. Army battalions.

Each battalion consisted of approximately fifty seven tanks. M48s were also used by Armored Cavalry Squadrons in Vietnam, until replaced by M551 Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance Airborne Assault Vehicles (ARAAV) in the Divisional Cavalry Squadrons. M48A3 tanks remained in service with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment until the unit was withdrawn.

When US forces commenced redeployment operations, many of the M48A3 Pattons were turned over to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces, in particular creating the ARVN 20th Tank Regiment; which supplemented their M41 Walker Bulldog units. 

During the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Easter Offensive in 1972, tank clashes between NVA T-54/PT-76 and ARVN M48/M41 units became commonplace.

South Vietnamese M48s and M41s fought in the so-called Ho Chi Minh Offensive in 1975. In several incidents, the South Vietnamese Army successfully defeated NVA T-34 and T-55 tanks and even slowed the North's offensive. However since the United States Congress passed bans on the transfer of fuel and ammunition to South Vietnam, the American-made tanks were soon out of ammunition and fuel and were abandoned to the North Vietnamese Army in 1975.

@@36 Centurion

The Centurion, introduced in 1945, was the primary British main battle tank of the post-Second World War period. It is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing combat in the front lines into the 1980s.

In May 1965 the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment had been deployed on active service to South Vietnam, with armoured mobility support initially provided by 1 Troop, A Squadron, 4th/19th Prince of Wales Light Horse equipped with the new M113A1 Armoured Personnel Carrier. The Australian government subsequently increased its commitment to a two-battalion brigade, known as the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF), in March 1966. Based at Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy Province the force included an APC squadron but no tanks. However, in October 1967 it was announced that 1 ATF would be expanded to three infantry battalions, while additional supporting arms, including a tank squadron, would also be added to the force. As such in February 1968, C Squadron, 1st Armoured Regiment was sent to Vietnam, with a total strength of 20 Centurion tanks. However, two of the four tank troops were initially held back until the Centurions had proved themselves capable of operating in the conditions. The tank squadron reached full strength on 5 September 1968.

@@37 105mm Art. AZ

The 105 mm M2A1 (M101A1) howitzer was a howitzer developed and used by the United States. It was the standard U.S. light field howitzer in World War II and saw action in both the European and Pacific theaters. Entering production in 1941, it quickly gained a reputation for accuracy and a powerful punch. The M101A1 fired 105-millimetre (4.1 in) high explosive (HE) semi-fixed ammunition and had a range of 11,270 metres (12,330 yd), making it suitable for supporting infantry.

The U.S. military artillery designation system was changed in 1962, redesignating the 105mm M2A1 howitzer the M101A1. The gun continued to see service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Though a similar model, the M102 howitzer, shared the same roles in battle, it never fully replaced the M101A1. Today, the M101A1 has been retired by the U.S. military, though it continues to see service with many other countries.

@@38 105mm Art. FK

The 105 mm M2A1 (M101A1) howitzer was a howitzer developed and used by the United States. It was the standard U.S. light field howitzer in World War II and saw action in both the European and Pacific theaters. Entering production in 1941, it quickly gained a reputation for accuracy and a powerful punch. The M101A1 fired 105-millimetre (4.1 in) high explosive (HE) semi-fixed ammunition and had a range of 11,270 metres (12,330 yd), making it suitable for supporting infantry.

The U.S. military artillery designation system was changed in 1962, redesignating the 105mm M2A1 howitzer the M101A1. The gun continued to see service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Though a similar model, the M102 howitzer, shared the same roles in battle, it never fully replaced the M101A1. Today, the M101A1 has been retired by the U.S. military, though it continues to see service with many other countries.

@@39 105mm Art. TH

The 105 mm M2A1 (M101A1) howitzer was a howitzer developed and used by the United States. It was the standard U.S. light field howitzer in World War II and saw action in both the European and Pacific theaters. Entering production in 1941, it quickly gained a reputation for accuracy and a powerful punch. The M101A1 fired 105-millimetre (4.1 in) high explosive (HE) semi-fixed ammunition and had a range of 11,270 metres (12,330 yd), making it suitable for supporting infantry.

The U.S. military artillery designation system was changed in 1962, redesignating the 105mm M2A1 howitzer the M101A1. The gun continued to see service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Though a similar model, the M102 howitzer, shared the same roles in battle, it never fully replaced the M101A1. Today, the M101A1 has been retired by the U.S. military, though it continues to see service with many other countries.

@@40 155mm Art. SV

The M114 155 mm howitzer was a towed howitzer developed and used by the United States Army. It was first produced in 1942 as a medium artillery piece under the designation of 155 mm Howitzer M1. It saw service with the US Army during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, before being replaced by the M198 howitzer.

Design work on the weapon began in 1939 and spanned into 1941 to which the system cleared its requisite trials before being adopted into service. Production spanned from 1941 into 1953 to which some 10,300 units were eventually produced by the Rock Island Arsenal stateside and additional examples appearing under license elsewhere.

The gun was also used by the armed forces of many nations, including the Army of South Vietnam.

@@41 M-113 APC (1st)

The Vietnam War was the first combat opportunity for "mechanized" infantry, a technically new type of infantry with its roots in the armored infantry of World War II, now using the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier. 

In addition, Armored Cavalry squadrons in Vietnam consisted largely of M113s, after replacing the intended M114 in a variety of roles, and Armor battalions contained M113s within their headquarters companies, such as the maintenance section, medical section, vehicle recovery section, mortar section, and the scout (reconnaissance) section. 

U.S. Army mechanized infantry units in Vietnam were fully equipped with the M113 APC/ACAV, which consisted of one headquarters company and three line companies, normally with an authorized strength of approximately 900 men. 

Ten U.S. mechanized infantry battalions and one mechanized brigade were deployed to Vietnam from 1965 until their departure in 1972.

@@42 M-113 APC (4th)

The Vietnam War was the first combat opportunity for "mechanized" infantry, a technically new type of infantry with its roots in the armored infantry of World War II, now using the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier. 

In addition, Armored Cavalry squadrons in Vietnam consisted largely of M113s, after replacing the intended M114 in a variety of roles, and Armor battalions contained M113s within their headquarters companies, such as the maintenance section, medical section, vehicle recovery section, mortar section, and the scout (reconnaissance) section. 

U.S. Army mechanized infantry units in Vietnam were fully equipped with the M113 APC/ACAV, which consisted of one headquarters company and three line companies, normally with an authorized strength of approximately 900 men. 

Ten U.S. mechanized infantry battalions and one mechanized brigade were deployed to Vietnam from 1965 until their departure in 1972.

@@43 M-113 APC (5th)

The Vietnam War was the first combat opportunity for "mechanized" infantry, a technically new type of infantry with its roots in the armored infantry of World War II, now using the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier. 

In addition, Armored Cavalry squadrons in Vietnam consisted largely of M113s, after replacing the intended M114 in a variety of roles, and Armor battalions contained M113s within their headquarters companies, such as the maintenance section, medical section, vehicle recovery section, mortar section, and the scout (reconnaissance) section. 

U.S. Army mechanized infantry units in Vietnam were fully equipped with the M113 APC/ACAV, which consisted of one headquarters company and three line companies, normally with an authorized strength of approximately 900 men. 

Ten U.S. mechanized infantry battalions and one mechanized brigade were deployed to Vietnam from 1965 until their departure in 1972.

@@44 M-113 APC (25th)

The Vietnam War was the first combat opportunity for "mechanized" infantry, a technically new type of infantry with its roots in the armored infantry of World War II, now using the M113 Armored Personnel Carrier. 

In addition, Armored Cavalry squadrons in Vietnam consisted largely of M113s, after replacing the intended M114 in a variety of roles, and Armor battalions contained M113s within their headquarters companies, such as the maintenance section, medical section, vehicle recovery section, mortar section, and the scout (reconnaissance) section. 

U.S. Army mechanized infantry units in Vietnam were fully equipped with the M113 APC/ACAV, which consisted of one headquarters company and three line companies, normally with an authorized strength of approximately 900 men. 

Ten U.S. mechanized infantry battalions and one mechanized brigade were deployed to Vietnam from 1965 until their departure in 1972.

@@45 F-100 Super Sabre

The North American F-100 Super Sabre was an American supersonic jet fighter aircraft that served with the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1954 to 1971.

On 16 April 1961, six Super Sabres were deployed from Clark Air Base in the Philippines to Don Muang Airfield in Thailand for air defense purposes; the first F-100s to enter combat in Southeast Asia.

By the war's end, 242 F-100 Super Sabres had been lost in Vietnam, as the F-100 was progressively replaced by the F-4 Phantom II and the F-105 Thunderchief. The Hun had logged 360,283 combat sorties during the war and its wartime operations came to end on 31 July 1971.

The four fighter wings with F-100s flew more combat sorties in Vietnam than over 15,000 P-51 Mustangs flew during World War II. After 1965, they did not fly into North Vietnam and mainly performed close air support missions. No F-100 was ever officially credited with any aerial victories. No F-100 in Vietnam was lost to enemy fighters, but 186 were shot down by anti-aircraft fire, seven were destroyed from Vietcong attacks on airbases, and 45 crashed in operational incidents. 

@@46 F-105 Thunderchief

The Republic F-105 Thunderchief was a supersonic fighter-bomber used by the United States Air Force. The Mach 2 capable F-105 conducted the majority of strike bombing missions during the early years of the Vietnam War; it was the only U.S. aircraft to have been removed from combat due to high loss rates.

In spite of a troubled early service life, the F-105 became the dominant attack aircraft early in the Vietnam War. The F-105 could carry more than twice the bomb load farther and faster than the F-100, which was used mostly in South Vietnam.

In December 1966, the VPAF's MiG-21 pilots of the 921st regiment downed 14 F-105s without any losses.

As production of F-105s had ended, the type was replaced in the Vietnam War by other aircraft, primarily the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. 

In October 1970, the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Takhli RTAFB, Thailand, the last F-105D unit in Vietnam, began to return to the U.S. The F-105G Wild Weasel versions soldiered on until the end of the war. They were gradually replaced by F-4G Wild Weasel IVs

@@47 F-4C Phantom

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II[N 1] is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor aircraft/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it was also adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force, and by the mid-1960s had become a major part of their respective air wings.

During the Vietnam War, the F-4 was used extensively; it served as the principal air superiority fighter for both the Navy and Air Force, and became important in the ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance roles late in the war. The Phantom has the distinction of being the last U.S. fighter flown to attain ace status in the 20th century. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force had one pilot and two weapon systems officers (WSOs), and the US Navy had one pilot and one radar intercept officer (RIO) become aces by achieving five aerial kills against enemy fighter aircraft.

In USAF service, the F-4 was initially designated the F-110 Spectre prior to the introduction of the 1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system. The USAF quickly embraced the design and became the largest Phantom user. The first USAF Phantoms in Vietnam were F-4Cs from the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Triple Nickel", which arrived in December 1964.

Unlike the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, which flew the Phantom with a Naval Aviator (pilot) in the front seat and a Naval Flight Officer as a radar intercept officer (RIO) in the back seat, the USAF initially flew its Phantoms with a rated Air Force Pilot in front and back seats.

Sixteen squadrons of Phantoms were permanently deployed between 1965 and 1973, and 17 others deployed on temporary combat assignments. Peak numbers of combat F-4s occurred in 1972, when 353 were based in Thailand. A total of 445 Air Force Phantom fighter-bombers were lost, 370 in combat and 193 of those over North Vietnam (33 to MiGs, 30 to SAMs, and 307 to AAA).

@@48 F-4E Phantom

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II[N 1] is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor aircraft/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it was also adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force, and by the mid-1960s had become a major part of their respective air wings.

During the Vietnam War, the F-4 was used extensively; it served as the principal air superiority fighter for both the Navy and Air Force, and became important in the ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance roles late in the war. The Phantom has the distinction of being the last U.S. fighter flown to attain ace status in the 20th century. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force had one pilot and two weapon systems officers (WSOs), and the US Navy had one pilot and one radar intercept officer (RIO) become aces by achieving five aerial kills against enemy fighter aircraft.

From the initial deployment of the F-4C to Southeast Asia, USAF Phantoms performed both air superiority and ground attack roles, supporting not only ground troops in South Vietnam but also conducting bombing sorties in Laos and North Vietnam. As the F-105 force underwent severe attrition between 1965 and 1968, the bombing role of the F-4 proportionately increased until after November 1970 (when the last F-105D was withdrawn from combat) it became the primary USAF tactical ordnance delivery system. In October 1972 the first squadron of EF-4C Wild Weasel aircraft deployed to Thailand on temporary duty.

@@49 B-57 Canberra

Although intended as a bomber and never before deployed by the USAF to a combat zone, the first B-57s to be deployed to South Vietnam were not operated in an offensive role. The need for additional reconnaissance assets, especially those capable of operating at night, led to the deployment of two RB-57E aircraft on 15 April 1963.

The deployment of actual combat capable B-57Bs from 8th and 13th Bomb Squadrons to Bien Hoa Air Base in August 1964 began with two aircraft lost and one damaged in collisions on arrival.

The first combat mission was only flown on 19 February 1965. The first excursion into North Vietnam took place on 2 March as part of Operation Rolling Thunder. The aircraft typically carried nine 500 lb (227 kg) bombs in the bomb bay and four 750 lb (340 kg) bombs under the wings.

@@50 B-52 Stratofortress

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) since the 1950s. The bomber is capable of carrying up to 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg) of weapons.

With the escalating situation in Southeast Asia, 28 B-52Fs were fitted with external racks for 24x 750 pound (340 kg) bombs under project South Bay in June 1964; an additional 46 aircraft received similar modifications under project Sun Bath. In March 1965, the United States commenced Operation Rolling Thunder.

The first combat mission, Operation Arc Light, was flown by B-52Fs on 18 June 1965, when 30 bombers of the 9th and 441st Bombardment Squadrons struck a communist stronghold near the Ben Cat District in South Vietnam.

The zenith of B-52 attacks in Vietnam was Operation Linebacker II (sometimes referred to as the Christmas Bombing) which consisted of waves of B-52s (mostly D models, but some Gs without jamming equipment and with a smaller bomb load). Over 12 days, B-52s flew 729 sorties and dropped 15,237 tons of bombs on Hanoi, Haiphong, and other targets. 

Originally 42 B-52s were committed to the war; however, numbers were frequently twice this figure. During Operation Linebacker I, fifteen B-52s were shot down.

@@51 F-111 Aardvark

The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark was a supersonic, medium-range interdictor and tactical Attack aircraft that also filled the roles of strategic bomber, aerial reconnaissance, and electronic-warfare aircraft in its various versions. Developed in the 1960s by General Dynamics, it first entered service in 1967 with the United States Air Force.

After early testing, a detachment of six aircraft were sent in March 1968 to Southeast Asia for Combat Lancer testing in real combat conditions in Vietnam but incurred losses due to mechanical problems.

September 1972 saw the F-111 back in Southeast Asia, stationed at Takhli Air Base, Thailand. F-111As from Nellis AFB participated in the final month of Operation Linebacker and later the Operation Linebacker II aerial offensive against the North Vietnamese. 

F-111 missions did not require tankers or ECM support, and they could operate in weather that grounded most other aircraft. One F-111 could carry the bomb load of four McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs. The worth of the new aircraft was beginning to show; F-111s flew more than 4,000 combat missions in Vietnam with only six combat losses.

@@52 199th Infantry

After serving as a reserve unit from 1921-40, the 199th Infantry Brigade was formed for the second time at Fort Benning in 1966. Nicknamed "the Redcatchers", the unit was hastily moved to Song Be, Vietnam on 10 December 1966 to provide an increased U.S. presence in the III Corps Tactical Zone.

The brigade was conducting Operation Uniontown in Dong Nai Province when the 1968 Tet Offensive began. It immediately began a defense of U.S. II Field Force headquarters at Long Binh and the Bien Hoa Air Base against attacks by the VC 275th Regiment. One battalion was moved by helicopter to attack a Viet Cong command post at the Phu Tho racetrack inside Saigon, then engaged in house-to-house fighting in Cholon.

During 1969, the 199th was responsible for the security of the region north and east of the capital, and in 1970 moved into the "Iron Triangle" when other units participated in the Cambodian Incursion.

The brigade returned to Fort Benning on 11 October 1970, where it was inactivated. 

@@53 18th MP

The 18th United Sates Military Police Brigade was activated during the Vietnam War.

On 26 September 1966, the Brigade assumed operational control over all non-divisional military police units in the Republic of Vietnam. The Brigade was composed of three major subordinate elements; the 16th Military Police Group at Nha Trang, and the 89th Military Police Group and 8th Military Police Group (Criminal Investigation) at Long Binh.

The 16th and 89th Military Police Groups were composed of seven military police battalions, containing a mixture of military police and infantry companies. The units were stationed throughout every corps tactical zone in the Republic of Vietnam, ranging from Da Nang in the north to Soc Trang in the south. The total strength of the Brigade numbered more than 5,000 personnel.

Members of the Brigade performed a wide variety of missions including evacuation of prisoners of war, security of vessels and ports, convoy escort, security of vital installations and VIPs, maintenance of discipline, law and order, and direct support to combat operations. During the Tet Offensive, the 716th MP Battalion fought off a resolute Viet Cong unit determined to take over the US Embassy, while other 18th Brigade units performed similar duties in the Mekong Delta, Bien Hoa, the Central Highlands, and throughout the RVN. The Brigade completed its service in Vietnam and was deactivated on 20 March 1973 in Oakland, California.

@@54 MIG-17 Fresco

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the USSR from 1952 and operated by numerous air forces in many variants. It is an advanced development of the very similar appearing MiG-15 of the Korean War.

In 1960, the first group of approximately 50 North Vietnamese airmen were transferred to the PRC to begin transitional training onto the MiG-17. By this time the first detachment of Chinese trained MiG-15 pilots had returned to North Vietnam, and a group of 31 airmen were deployed to the North Vietnamese Air Force base at Son Dong for conversion to the MiG-17. 

By 1962 the first North Vietnamese pilots had finished their MiG-17 courses in the Soviet Union and the PRC, and returned to their units; to mark the occasion, the Soviets sent as a "gift" 36 MiG-17 fighters and MiG-15UTI trainers to Hanoi in February 1964. These airmen would create North Vietnam's first jet fighter regiment, the 921st. By 1965, another group of MiG pilots had returned from training in Krasnodar, in the USSR, as well as from the PRC. This group would form North Vietnam's second fighter unit, the 923rd Fighter Regiment. While the newly created 923rd FR operated strictly MiG-17s, and initially these were the only types available to oppose modern American supersonic jets, more modern supersonic Soviet fighters would be later introduced as the 921st FR would operate both MiG-17s and MiG-21s (in 1969 the 925th FR MiG-19 unit would be formed).

The MiG-17 was the primary interceptor of the fledgling Vietnam People's Air Force in 1965, scoring its first aerial victories and seeing extensive combat during the Vietnam War. The aircraft frequently worked in conjunction with MiG-21s and MiG-19s. Some North Vietnamese pilots preferred the MiG-17 over the MiG-21 because it was more agile, though not as fast; 13 of the 16 NVAF Aces of the war attained that status while flying the MiG-21. Three North Vietnamese airmen gained Ace status while flying the MiG-17. Those were: Nguyen Van Bay (7 victories), Luu Huy Chao and Le Hai (both with six).

@@55 MiG-19 Farmer

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (NATO reporting name: "Farmer") is a Soviet second-generation, single-seat, twin jet-engined fighter aircraft. It was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. A comparable U.S. "Century Series" fighter was the North American F-100 Super Sabre, although the MiG-19 would primarily oppose the more modern McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and Republic F-105 Thunderchief over North Vietnam.

Hanoi decided in early 1969 to strengthen its air defenses by creating a third jet fighter unit; the 925th Fighter Regiment. This unit would consist of late model MiG-17s and the newly acquired MiG-19s (nearly all of which were J-6s from the People's Republic of China (PRC)). The regiment was established at Yen Bai, and by April 1969, nine combat-rated MiG-19 pilots were posted for combat duty. While some of North Vietnam's MiG-17s and all of their MiG-21s were supplied by the Soviet Union, the MiG-19s (J-6 models) were supplied by the PRC, which seldom exceeded 54 MiG-19s in number.

The North Vietnamese Air Force began receiving the MiG-19 at the end of Operation Rolling Thunder, which ended in 1968. Despite their limited numbers, MiG-19s were involved in extensive combat during Operations Linebacker 1 and Linebacker 2 (aka the Christmas Bombing). The NVAF claimed only seven victories over U.S. aircraft, using the MiG-19, all of which were F-4 Phantom IIs.

The MiG-19 was tested by U.S. pilots in the United States in 1969 after receiving a Chinese J-6 (F-6 exported model) from Pakistan. In addition to finding the aircraft to have a good canopy allowing good visibility for the pilot, along with 3 hard hitting 30mm cannons, U.S. pilots found the MiG-19 (J6/F6) to be an excellent fighter, "like the MiG-17, it could easily out-turn the Phantom...and could out-accelerate the F-4 out to Mach 1.2, but was slower than the MiG-21.". However, the MiG-19's strongest fault was its extremely short range, as one U.S. test pilot remarked, "after going in full after-burner at low altitude for 5 minutes, the MiG driver will be looking for a place to land!". This, combined with the aircraft's twin engines, which were difficult to maintain, made the MiG-19 unpopular with North Vietnamese pilots.

@@56 MIG-21 Fishbed

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was popularly nicknamed "Balalaika", from the aircraft's planform-view resemblance to the Russian stringed musical instrument by Polish pilots due to the shape of its fuselage.

The MiG-21 was designed for very short ground-controlled interception (GCI) missions. It became renowned for this type of mission in the skies over North Vietnam. The first MiG-21s arrived directly from the Soviet Union by ship in April 1966. After being unloaded and assembled they were given to North Vietnam's oldest fighter unit, the 921st Fighter Regiment which was created on 3 February 1964 as a MiG-17 unit. Because the North Vietnamese Air Force's 923rd FR was newer and less experienced, they would continue to operate MiG-17s while the arrival of the MiG-19s (J6 versions) from Communist China in 1969 would create North Vietnam's only MiG-19 unit, the 925th FR. On 3 February 1972, North Vietnam commissioned their fourth and last Fighter Regiment created during the war with the Republic of Vietnam, the MiG-21PFM (Type 94) equipped 927th Fighter Regiment.

Although the MiG-21 lacked the long-range radar, missiles, and heavy bomb load of its contemporary multi-mission U.S. fighters, with its RP-21 Sapfir radar it proved a challenging adversary in the hands of experienced pilots, especially when used in high-speed hit-and-run attacks under GCI control. MiG-21 intercepts of Republic F-105 Thunderchief strike groups were effective in downing US aircraft or forcing them to jettison their bomb loads.

@@57 M113 ACAV US

The U.S. Army, after berating the Vietnamese for flouting battle doctrine, came out with their own ACAV version. This more or less standardized ACAV kit included shields and a circular turret for the .50-caliber M2 machine gun in the Track Commander (TC) position, two M60 machine guns with shields for the left and right rear positions, and "belly armor" steel armor bolted from the front bottom extending 1/2 to 2/3 of the way towards the bottom rear of the M113.

The two rear machine gunners could fire their weapons while standing inside the rectangular open cargo hatch. This transformed the M113 into a fighting vehicle, but the vehicle still suffered from its lightly armored configuration, having never been designed for such a role.

@@58 M-551 Sheridan

The M551 "Sheridan" AR/AAV (Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle) was a light tank developed by the United States and named after Civil War General Philip Sheridan. It was designed to be landed by parachute and to swim across rivers. It was armed with the technically advanced but troublesome M81/M81 Modified/M81E1 152mm gun/launcher, which fired conventional ammunition and the MGM-51 Shillelagh guided anti-tank missile.

The US Army staff in Washington had been recommending since 1966 to the commander of US Forces in South Vietnam, General Westmoreland, that the Sheridan should be used in Vietnam. However, since the main gun ammunition was not available, he argued that it was simply a $300,000 machine gun platform. 

By 1968, the new, or soon to be, US commander in South Vietnam, General Creighton Abrams, had been notified that the 152mm shells were now available for the Sheridan. However, as General Abrams began to make preparations for the equipping of US Cavalry squadrons for the vehicle, the affected squadrons expressed their concerns that the new aluminum tanks were not only highly vulnerable to mines and anti-tank rocket fire, but they would not be as capable of "jungle busting" as the M48A3 medium tanks.

In late 1968, General Abrams met with Colonel George S. Patton IV - the son of World War II General Patton - who was the regimental commander of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (11th ACR Blackhorse), the only full regiment of cavalry in Vietnam. When General Abrams mentioned the cavalry's concerns over the new vehicle, Patton recommended that the Sheridans be combat tested by a divisional cavalry squadron as well as a squadron from his own regiment; as the squadrons had completely different missions.

By the end of 1970, there were more than 200 Sheridans in Vietnam, and they stayed in the field until the last US armored cavalry unit, the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry prepared for re-deployment back to the United States on 10 April 1972.

@@59 M113 APC OI

The 1st Armored Divisionnicknamed "Old Ironsides" is a combined arms division of the United States Army. It was the first armored division of the U.S. Army to see battle in World War II.

Although the 1st Armored Division did not participate as a division in the Vietnam War, two units, Company A, 501st Aviation and 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry served in Vietnam. Both earned Presidential Unit Citations, and 1-1 Cavalry received two Valorous Unit Awards and three Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry. Neither unit was officially detached from the 1st Armored Division thus veterans of both units may wear the division's patch as a combat patch. In addition, in 1967 the 198th Infantry Brigade was formed from three of the divisions infantry battalions and deployed from Fort Hood to Vietnam. After the war, two of the three battalions, 1-6 Infantry and 1-52 Infantry, returned to the 1st Armored Division.

In 1968, rioting broke out in many American cities following the assassination of Martin Luther King. The 3rd Brigade deployed to Chicago to assist in restoring order.

The early 1970s brought the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam and a major restructuring of the Army. Old Ironsides was rumored to be on the list of units to be inactivated. Veterans of the division organized a letter-writing campaign to "save" the 1st Armored Division.

@@60 M-48 Patton OI

The 1st Armored Divisionnicknamed "Old Ironsides" is a combined arms division of the United States Army. It was the first armored division of the U.S. Army to see battle in World War II.

Although the 1st Armored Division did not participate as a division in the Vietnam War, two units, Company A, 501st Aviation and 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry served in Vietnam. Both earned Presidential Unit Citations, and 1-1 Cavalry received two Valorous Unit Awards and three Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry. Neither unit was officially detached from the 1st Armored Division thus veterans of both units may wear the division's patch as a combat patch. In addition, in 1967 the 198th Infantry Brigade was formed from three of the divisions infantry battalions and deployed from Fort Hood to Vietnam. After the war, two of the three battalions, 1-6 Infantry and 1-52 Infantry, returned to the 1st Armored Division.

In 1968, rioting broke out in many American cities following the assassination of Martin Luther King. The 3rd Brigade deployed to Chicago to assist in restoring order.

The early 1970s brought the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam and a major restructuring of the Army. Old Ironsides was rumored to be on the list of units to be inactivated. Veterans of the division organized a letter-writing campaign to "save" the 1st Armored Division.

@@61 M109 155mm SPA

Although the M109 155mm SPH was designed primarily for the high-intensity combat in a NATO/Warsaw Pact confrontation it actually first saw combat service in Vietnam.

Given the nature of the terrain and the US Army's growing reliance on air-mobility in Vietnam, there was not a great demand for self-propelled artillery, especially since no armored or mechanized divisions were posted to the theater. The Army preferred lighter towed artillery, which could be easily moved by helicopter. 

In the end, self-propelled guns proved useful because of the Army's style of warfare of establishing fire support bases throughout South Vietnam to provide artillery coverage for infantry operations. Since the bases were often in "bandit country", full 360-degree coverage proved essential, and towed artillery had limited traverse whereas the M109 could provide full coverage.

By 1969 the Army had deployed five M109 and two M108 artillery battalions to Vietnam out of a total of 57 battalions stationned there.

@@62 MK II PBR

The great strategic and economic importance of South Vietnam's extensive inland waterways made it clear from the beginning of the war that the Navy would be in the front rank of the allied forces. Laced by 3,000 nautical miles of rivers, canals, and smaller streams, the fertile Mekong Delta south of Saigon, where the largest segment of South Vietnam population lived, constituted the country's rice bowl. 

Northward along the coast to the DMZ, sizable rivers stretched inland past vital population centers such as the old imperial capital of Hue. Throughout the country the road and rail system was rudimentary while the waterways provided ready access to the most important resources. 

The side that controlled the rivers and canals controlled the heart of South Vietnam. U.S. naval leaders were determined that allied forces would command these waterways when they established the River Patrol Force (Task Force 116) on 18 December 1965. 

From then until March 1966, the Navy procured river patrol boats (PBR) in the United States, prepared the crews at the Coronado, California, and Mare Island, California, training centers, and deployed the units to Southeast Asia for Operation Game Warden. On 15 March 1966 the River Patrol Force was also designated River Patrol Squadron 5 for administrative and supply purposes. 

By 31 August 1968, the force consisted of five river divisions, each controlling two 10-boat sections that operated from combat bases along the major rivers or from ships positioned in the rivers. The Navy reconditioned each of the ships so they could serve as floating base facilities for a PBR section and a helicopter detachment.

@@63 1st Cavalry Division

On 29 June 1965, the colors of the 1st Cavalry Division, at that time assigned to Korea, were transferred to Fort Benning taking over the re-flagged units of the 11th Airborne Division (United States) and 2nd Infantry Division.

No longer a conventional infantry unit, the division had become an air assault division as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), commonly referred to as the 1st Air Cavalry Division. 

The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) began deploying to Camp Radcliff, An Khe, Vietnam, in the Central Highlands and was equipped with the new M16 rifle, the UH-1 troop carrier helicopter, UH-1-C gunships, the CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopter, and the massive CH-54 Skycrane cargo helicopter. 

The division's first major operation was to help relieve the Siege of Plei Me near Pleiku and the pursuit of the retreating North Vietnamese Army which culminated in the Battle of Ia Drang, described in the book We Were Soldiers Once...And Young. Because of that battle the division earned the Presidential Unit Citation (US), the first unit to receive such in the war. 

1967 was then spent conducting Operation Pershing, a large scale search and destroy operation of enemy base areas in II Corps in which 5,400 enemy soldiers were killed and 2,000 captured. 

In Operation Jeb Stuart, January 1968, the division moved north to Camp Evans, north of Hue and on to Landing Zone Sharon and Landing Zone Betty, south of Quang Tri City, all in the I Corps Tactical Zone.

In the early morning hours of 31 January 1968, the largest battle of the Vietnam War, the Tet Offensive, was launched by 84,000 enemy soldiers across South Vietnam. In the 1st Cavalry Division's area of operation, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Vietcong forces seized most of the city of Hue. As the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, fought to cut off enemy reinforcements pouring into Hue, at Quang Tri City, five enemy battalions, most from the 324th NVA Division, attacked the city and LZ Betty (Headquarters 1st Brigade). After intense fighting, 900 NVA and Vietcong soldiers were killed in and around Quang Tri City and LZ Betty. 

In May 1970, the 1st Cavalry Division participated in the Cambodian Incursion, withdrawing from Cambodia on 29 June. Thereafter, the division took a defensive posture while US troops withdrawals continued from Vietnam. On 29 April 1971 the bulk of the division was withdrawn to Fort Hood, Texas, but its 3rd Brigade remained as one of the final two major US ground combat units in Vietnam, departing 29 June 1972.

The First Cavalry Division would end the Vietnam War suffering more casualties than any other division: 5,444 men killed in action and 26,592 wounded in action.

@@64 1st Infantry Division

The 1st Infantry Division fought in the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1970. Arriving in July 1965, the division began combat operations within two weeks. By the end of 1965 the division had participated in three major operations: Hump, Bushmaster 1 and Bushmaster II, under the command of MG Jonathan O. Seaman.

In 1966, the division took part in Operation Marauder, Operation Crimp II, and Operation Rolling Stone, all in the early part of the year. In March, Major General William E. DePuy took command. In June and July the division took part in the battles of Ap Tau O, Srok Dong and Minh Thanh Road. In November 1966, the division participated in Operation Attleboro.

1967 saw the division in Operation Cedar Falls, Operation Junction City, Operation Manhattan, and Operation Shenandoah II. MG John H. Hay assumed command in February. On 17 October 1967, the 1st I.D suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Ong Thanh with 58 killed.

The division involved in the Tet Offensive of 1968, securing the massive Tan Son Nhut Air Base. In March, MG Keith L. Ware took command. That same month the division took part in Operation Quyet Thang ("Resolve to Win") and in April the division participated in the largest operation of the Vietnam War, Operation Toan Thang ("Certain Victory"). On 13 September, the division commander, Maj. Gen. Ware, was killed in action when his command helicopter was shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire. MG Orwin C. Talbott moved up from his position of assistant division commander to assume command of the division.

In the first half of 1969, The Big Red One conducted reconnaissance-in-force and ambush operations, including a multi-divisional operation, Atlas Wedge. The last part of the year saw the division take part in Dong Tien ("Progress Together") operations. These operations were intended to assist South Vietnamese forces to take a more active role in combat. In August, MG A. E. Milloy took command of the 1st I.D. while the division took part in battles along National Highway 13, known as "Thunder Road" to the end of the year.

In January 1970 it was announced that the division would return to Fort Riley. 11 members of the division were awarded the Medal of Honor. During its involvement in the Vietnam war, the division lost 6,146 killed in action, with a further 16,019 wounded. Twenty of its number were taken as prisoners-of-war.

@@65 4th Infantry Division

The 4th Infantry Division deployed from Fort Lewis to Camp Holloway, Pleiku, Vietnam on 25 September 1966 and served more than four years, returning to Fort Carson, Colorado on 8 December 1970. 

Two brigades operated in the Central Highlands/II Corps Zone, but its 3rd Brigade, including the division's armor battalion, was sent to Tay Ninh Province northwest of Saigon to take part in Operation Attleboro (September to November 1966), and later Operation Junction City (February to May 1967), both in War Zone C. 

After nearly a year of combat, the 3rd Brigade's battalions officially became part of the 25th Infantry Division in exchange for the battalions of the 25th's 3rd Brigade, then in Quang Ngai Province as part of the division-sized Task Force Oregon.

Throughout its service in Vietnam the division conducted combat operations ranging from the western Central Highlands along the border between Cambodia and Vietnam to Qui Nhon on the South China Sea. The division experienced intense combat against NVA regular forces in the mountains surrounding Kontum in the autumn of 1967.

The division's 3rd Brigade was withdrawn from Vietnam in April 1970 and deactivated at Fort Lewis. In May the remainder of the division conducted cross-border operations during the Cambodian Incursion. 

The "Ivy Division" returned from Vietnam on 7 December 1970, and was rejoined in Fort Carson by its former 3rd Brigade from Hawaii, where it had re-deployed as part of the withdrawal of the 25th Infantry Division. One battalion remained in Vietnam as a separate organization until January 1972

@@66 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized)

The 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized), "Red Diamond", was reactivated on 19 February 1962 at Fort Carson, Colorado. It was the first Mechanized Infantry Division organized under the ROAD (Reorganization Objective Army Division) concept. 

On 25 March 1968, the 1st brigade of the 5th Infantry Division (Mech) was alerted for deployment in the Republic of Vietnam. For this duty it was reorganized as a Separate Brigade. 

After intensive training on small unit tactics and combined arms coordination, the brigade concentrated its personnel and loaded its vehicles on railroad cars for departure to Southeast Asia in June 1968. On July 2, 1968, the advance party of the Brigade arrived at Quang Tri, the remainder followed on 22 July 1968.

The brigade, consisting of one battalion each of infantry, mechanized infantry, and armor, served there from July 1968 until 1971. Combat units included 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry; 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry (Mechanized); 1st Battalion, 77th Armor; A Troop, 4th Squadron, 12th Cavalry; and 5th Battalion, 4th Artillery. 

In the middle of August 1971, the 1st Brigade colors departed from Quang Tri to return to Fort Carson, Colorado. On August, 22, in a ceremony held at Fort Carson, the 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mech) colors were de-activated.

@@67 6th Infantry Division

The 6th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I, World War II, and the last years of the Cold War. Known as "Red Star", and formerly called the "Sight Seein' Sixth".

The 6th Division was reactivated 4 October 1950 at Fort Ord, California. There the division remained throughout the Korean War, training troops and providing personnel for combat, but was never deployed overseas as an entity itself and was again inactivated on 3 April 1956.

In the American build-up during the Vietnam War the division was activated in 1967 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and later a forward brigade was located in Hawaii. There was sentiment against sending the division to Vietnam because its shoulder sleeve insignia invited a derisive nickname ("Commie Jew Division") that General Westmoreland, cognizant of troop morale problems, considered too offensive, and the decision was made instead to form the Americal Division (23rd Infantry Division), with less offensive insignia, in Vietnam itself. 

During June 1968 the US Joint Chiefs of Staff also declared the 6th Infantry Division unsuitable for combatant deployment because it flunked its readiness report, and shortly thereafter the division was terminated on 25 July 1968.

@@68 9th Infantry Division

The 9th Division was activated on 1 February 1966, and arrived in Vietnam on 16 December 1966 from Fort Riley, Kansas. On deployment the division was assigned to the III Corps Tactical Zone of Vietnam where it commenced operations in the Dinh Tuong and Long An provinces (6 January-31 May 1967) in Operation Palm Beach.

During the war the division's units often served with the Mobile Riverine Force and other US Navy units that made up the Brown Water Navy. Its area of operations was in the rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta from 1967 to 1972. Operation Speedy Express was one significant operation in which the division took part during the war and was one of 22 major combat engagements with North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong main force units as well as thousands of small contacts during this period during division's presence in Vietnam.

One of the more unique units serving with the division was the experimental 39th Cavalry Platoon (Air Cushion Vehicle) which used three of the specially designed hovercraft to patrol marshy terrain like the Plain of Reeds along the south Vietnamese/Cambodian border.

From 1967 on, one of the division's brigades (the 2d Brigade) was the Army contingent of the Mobile Riverine Force. This brigade lived on the ships of Navy Task Force 117, and were transported on their infantry missions throughout the Mekong Delta on World War II landing craft supported by various other armored boats some of which mounted flame-throwers (called zippo after the lighter); had mortars in their holds; and even 105mm cannons on their bows (called monitors). The mobile riverine force was often anchored near the South Vietnamese city of My Tho, or near the Division's Dong Tam Base Camp, and they conducted operations in coordination with the Navy SEAL teams, the South Vietnamese Marines, units of the ARVN 7th Division and River Assault Groups. 

Following the Tet offensive in 1968, General Westmoreland stated that the 9th Infantry Division and the Mobile Riverine Force saved the Delta region from falling to the North Vietnamese Army forces. In 1969, the division also operated throughout the IV Corps Tactical Zone.

The division's brigades departed Vietnam on 27 August 1969 (HHC & 1st BDE) to Hawaii; 27 August 1969 (2nd BDE) to Fort Lewis, Washington; 12 October 1970 (3rd BDE) to Fort Lewis, Washington.
 
@@69 23rd Infantry Division

The Americal was activated 25 September 1967 at Chu Lai in Vietnam from a combination of units already in Vietnam and newly arrived units. Its precursor, a division-sized task force known as Task Force Oregon was created in Quang Ngai and Quang Tin provinces from the 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, and the 196th Light Infantry Brigade (all separate brigades that deployed to Vietnam in 1966). Task Force Oregon operated in close cooperation with the 1st Marine Division in the I Corps Military Region. 

As more US Army units arrived in Vietnam the two divisional brigades were released back to their parent organizations and two arriving separate brigades were assigned to Task Force Oregon, which was in turn re-designated the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal). The division was composed of the 11th, 196th, and 198th Light Infantry Brigades and divisional support units. Both the 11th and 198th brigades were newly formed units.

The Americal, in Vietnam, suffered an important defeat at the Battle of Kham Duc but gave a solid performance during the Tet Offensive, The Battle of LoGiang and the Battle of Nui Hoac Ridge (Hill 352). Platoon Sergeant Finnis McCleery was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valiant efforts on Hill 352. Sgt. Alan Allen was awarded the Silver Star for this same battle. Both men were members of A Co. 1/6 198th. 20 men from A Company were lost in the Battle of LoGiang on 8 February 1968. A Co. of the 198th was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its heroic efforts in the Battle of LoGiang, 8 February 1968.

The Americal Division became notorious after a platoon of troops from the division led by Lieutenant William Calley slaughtered hundreds of South Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre in March 1968. A helicopter crew from the division's 123rd Aviation Battalion, led by Hugh Thompson, Jr., attempted to intervene in the massacre and were later awarded the Soldier's Medal. Seymour Hersh broke the story of the massacre in November 1969, and a year later 14 officers  including Samuel W. Koster, the division's commanding officer  were charged with covering the massacre up. Most of the charges were later dropped, but Koster was subsequently demoted and stripped of his Distinguished Service Medal.

The 198th and 11th Brigades were withdrawn from Vietnam in November 1971, and the division was inactivated. The 196th Brigade was reconstituted as a separate brigade and remained in Vietnam until 29 June 1972, the last major combat unit to be withdrawn. Its 3rd Battalion, 21st infantry (Gimlets) was the last U.S. maneuver battalion to leave Vietnam, on 23 August 1972
 
@@70 25th Infantry Division

In response to a request from the U.S. Military Assistance Command in Vietnam, the 25th Infantry Division sent 100 helicopter door-gunners to South Vietnam in early 1963. By August 1965, further division involvement in the coming Vietnam War included the deployment of Company C, 65th Engineer Battalion, to South Vietnam to assist in the construction of port facilities at Cam Ranh Bay. 

By mid-1965, 2,200 men of the Tropic Lightning Division were involved in Vietnam. The division was again ordered to contribute combat forces in December of that year. Its resupply regiment, the 467th, was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George S Dotson through the end of the war.

In response to a MACV request, the division deployed 4,000 3rd Brigade infantrymen and 9,000 tons of equipment from Hawaii in 25 days to the Northwest sector of South Vietnam to firmly establish a fortified enclave from which the division could operate. Operation Blue Light was the largest and longest airlift of personnel and cargo into a combat zone in military history before Operation Desert Shield. The brigade deployed its first soldiers from Hickam Air Force Base, Honolulu, to the central highlands at Pleiku. These men arrived in Vietnam 24 December 1965. 

By mid-January, the deployment operation was complete  giving combat planners in Vietnam a favorable balance of power. The division was heavily engaged from April 1966 until 1972 throughout the area of operations in Southeast Asia. During this period, Tropic Lightning soldiers fought in some of the toughest battles of the war including Operation Junction City.

During the Tet offensives of 1968 and 1969, Tropic Lightning soldiers were instrumental in defending the besieged city of Saigon. Due to its success in fending off that attack, the 25th Infantry Division spent most of 1970 more involved in the Vietnamization Program than in actual combat. 

From May through June 1970, division soldiers participated in Allied thrusts deep into enemy sanctuaries located in Cambodia. In these Incursion operations, the division units confiscated thousands of tons of supplies and hundreds of weapons. This operation crippled the Cambodian-based efforts against American units. 

Following its return from Cambodia to South Vietnam, the division resumed its place in the Vietnamization Program. The war was winding down. By late December 1970, elements of the 25th Infantry Division were able to begin redeployment to Schofield Barracks. Second Brigade was the last element of the division to depart Vietnam. It arrived at Schofield Barracks in the early days of May 1971. During the war in Vietnam, 22 Medals of Honor were awarded to Tropic Lightning soldiers

@@71 82nd Airborne

The division was constituted, originally as the 82nd Division, in the National Army on 5 August 1917, shortly after the American entry into World War I, and was organized on 25 August 1917, at Camp Gordon, Georgia and later served with distinction on the Western Front in the final months of World War I. Since its initial members came from all 48 states, the unit acquired the nickname All-American, which is the basis for its famed "AA" shoulder patch. The division later served in World War II where, in August 1942, it was reconstituted as the first airborne division of the U.S. Army and fought in numerous campaigns during the war, gaining an excellent reputation.

In April 1965, the "All-Americans" entered the civil war in the Dominican Republic, in which more than 3,000 Dominicans died. Spearheaded by the 3rd Brigade, the 82nd deployed in Operation Power Pack.

A year later, the 82nd went into action in Vietnam. During the Tet Offensive, which swept across the Vietnam in January 1968, the 3rd Brigade was en route to Chu Lai within 24 hours of receiving its orders. The 3rd Brigade performed combat duties in the Hue  Phu Bai area of the I Corps sector. Later the brigade moved south to Saigon, and fought in the Mekong Delta, the Iron Triangle and along the Cambodian border, serving nearly 22 months. While the 3rd Brigade was deployed, the division created a provisional 4th Brigade, consisting of 4th Battalion, 325th Infantry; 3rd Battalion, 504th Infantry; and 3rd Battalion, 505th Infantry. The Division Artillery also created an additional battalion, 3rd Battalion, 320th Artillery, to support the 4th Brigade.

Within the United States, in 1967, the 82nd was sent to deal with the massive 1967 Detroit riot. Within two days of their deployment, the riots ended, with 43 people dead.

@@72 101st Airborne

The 101st Airborne Division ("Screaming Eagles") is a modular light infantry division of the United States Army trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord (the D-Day landings and airborne landings on June 6, 1944, in Normandy, France), Operation Market Garden, the liberation of the Netherlands and, perhaps most famously, its action during the Battle of the Bulge around the city of Bastogne, Belgium. During the Vietnam War, the 101st Airborne Division fought in several major campaigns and battles including the fight for Hamburger Hill in May 1969.

In mid-1965, the 1st Brigade and support troops were deployed to the Republic of Vietnam, followed by the rest of the division in late 1967. The 101st was deployed in the northern I Corps region operating against the Vietnam People's Army (NVA) infiltration routes through Laos and the A Shau Valley for most of the war. In almost seven years of combat in Vietnam, elements of the 101st participated in 15 campaigns. Notable among these were the Battle of Hamburger Hill in 1969 and Firebase Ripcord in 1970.

Within the United States, the 101st, along with the 82nd Airborne Division, was sent in to quell the large and violent 1967 Detroit riot.

@@73 173rd Airborne Brigade

The 173rd Airborne Brigade arrived in Vietnam on May 5, 1965, the first major ground combat unit of the United States Army to serve in the country. Brigadier General Williamson boldly predicted on arrival that his men would defeat the Viet Cong quickly and that they "would be back in Okinawa by Christmas". 

As larger US Army commands were established in Vietnam, the brigade was assigned to the III Corps and II Corps tactical zone, which they would serve in for the next six years. The brigade was put under the command of II Field Force, Vietnam. The brigade deployed from Okinawa complete with an aviation unit of its own, making it a de facto airmobile formation.

The brigade was the first unit sent into War Zone D to destroy enemy base camps, introducing the use of small Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols. On 8 November 1965, the 173rd took part in Operation Hump, just north of Bien Hoa on the outskirts of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. They were ambushed by approximately 1,200 Viet Cong fighters, suffering 48 deaths. The unit fought in the Iron Triangle, a Viet Cong stronghold north of Saigon, seeing many engagements with enemy forces during that time. They participated in Operation Crimp in 1966, a failed attempt to root out enemy forces from the Cu Chi tunnels.

On 22 February 1967, the 173rd conducted Operation Junction City, the only combat parachute jump of the Vietnam War. The operation saw three brigades controlling eight battalions dropped by helicopters and US Air Force aircraft into War Zone C, in Ty Ninh Province. During the battle, the brigade operated out of the northeastern part of the war zone along with the 196th Infantry Brigade (Separate), as four other brigades from the 1st and 25th Infantry Divisions attempted to surround and destroy the 9th Viet Cong Division in the War Zone. 

The operation was a success, and the battered VC division fled. In August of that year, the brigade received its distinctive unit insignia. The soldiers chose to have it contain a parachute and dagger to symbolize their participation in Operation Junction City and the other heavy fighting they had been through. The DUI was also inscribed "Sky Soldiers" as homage to the nickname that the Taiwanese soldiers had given them.

From April until August 1971, the unit underwent the process of redeployment to Fort Campbell, Kentucky in the United States, the first time that the 173rd Airborne Brigade in name had returned to the country since 1942.

During more than six years of continuous combat, the brigade earned 14 campaign streamers and four unit citations, the Presidential Unit Citation, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, a Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, and a Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal. Sky Soldiers serving in Vietnam received 13 Medals of Honor, 32 Distinguished Service Crosses, 1,736 Silver Stars and more than 6,000 Purple Hearts.

@@74 ANZAC Infantry

@@75 27th Natl Guard

The 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team ("Empire") is an infantry brigade combat team of the New York Army National Guard, one of the brigades that make up the 42nd Infantry Division.

The New York Army National Guard was formally created in 1906. The Militia Act of 1903 organized the various state militias into the present National Guard system. The New York Army National Guard despatched elements of the 27th Infantry Division, and the 42nd Infantry Division to both world wars. Douglas MacArthur served as an officer and brigade commander in the 42nd Infantry Division during the First World War.

The New York Army National Guard is a component of the New York National Guard and the Army National Guard. Nationwide, the Army National Guard comprises approximately one half of the US Army's available combat forces and approximately one third of its support organization. National coordination of various state National Guard units are maintained through the National Guard Bureau.

@@76 26th Marines Regiment

The 26th Marine Regiment (26th Marines) is an inactivated infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. The 26th Marines were activated in 1944 and fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II and were activated again on March 1, 1966 and fought in the Battle of Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War.

In mid-May 1967, following the conclusion of The Hill Fights, the 26th Marines took over responsibility for the area around Khe Sanh from the 3rd Marines. The 26th Marines conducted Operation Ardmore a search and destroy mission in the Khe Sanh area from 17 July-31 October 1967. At the conclusion of Operation Ardmore the Marines commenced Operation Scotland, the defense of Khe Sanh Combat Base and search and destroy missions against North Vietnamese Army (NVA) infiltration. 

From 21 January 1968 the 26th Marines were under siege at Khe Sanh until the conclusion of Operation Pegasus on 14 April 1968 and were replaced by the 1st Marines on 15 April 1968. The 26th Marines was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for its actions during the Battle of Khe Sanh.

@@77 ROK 9th Div

The Republic of Korea (South Korea), under the administration of Park Chung-hee, took an active role in the Vietnam War. From 1964 to 1973, South Korea sent more than 300,000 troops to Vietnam. The number of troops from South Korea was much greater than those from Australia and New Zealand, and second only to the US Military Force.

The Korean 9th 'White Horse' Division arrived in Vietnam between 5 September and 8 October 1966 and was positioned in the Ninh Hoa District at the junction of Route 1 and Route 21. The 28th Regiment was stationed in the Tuy Hoa area, the 29th Regiment at the division headquarters at Ninh Hoa Base and the 30th Regiment on the mainland side to protect Cam Ranh Bay. 

With these three areas under control, the 9th Division could control Route 1 and the population along that main road all the way from Tuy Hoa down to Phan Rang, from Tuy Hoa north to Qui Nhon, and as far north of that city as the foothills of the mountains in southern Binh Dinh Province.

@@78 ROK CAP Div

The Korean Capital 'Tiger' Division arrived in South Vietnam on September 22, 1965. The Division was deployed just outside of Qui Nhon in Binh Dinh Province, from where it could protect vital arteries such as Route 1 and Route 19, as well as rice-growing areas and foothills to the north and west.

By June 1966 the Capital Division controlled all the area north of Qui Nhon to the east of Route 1 and up to the base of Phu Cat Mountain. It extended its control also to the north and south of Route 19 up to the pass leading into An Khe. 

Korean soldiers that volunteered for service in Vietnam were given bonuses: they would "receive credit for three years of military duty for each year served in Vietnam as well as additional monetary entitlements; further, combat duty would enhance their future Army careers.

All the ROKA units sent to Vietnam (the Tiger Division, White Horse Division and (Blue Dragon) Brigade) were chosen because they were considered to have the longest and best records from the Korean War.

The Tigers were considered uncanny for their ability to search territory and smoke out enemy soldiers and weapons. They would plan operations meticulously and sometimes even rehearse it beforehand. The soldiers would seal off a relatively small area, no more than 9 or 10 square kilometers. Troops would be brought in by air and land, but would arrive at the same time to maximize the chokehold. Slowly but surely the cordon would be tightened, and everyone and everything would be searched. Civilians were separated and interrogated, routinely offered rewards if they cooperated. It was not unusual for an area to be searched three or four times by different platoons. To prevent enemy breakouts, the Koreans had special reaction forces that could plug holes in the perimeter. General William R. Peers considered the Koreans the best at these so-called "cordon and search operations."

The Division returned home March 11, 1973.

@@79 ROK Marines

At the request of the United States, South Korean President Park Chung Hee agreed to send military units into Vietnam, despite opposition from both the Assembly and the public. In exchange, the United States agreed to provide additional military funds to South Korea to help modernize its armed forces, totaling about a billion dollars.

The three main units deployed to Vietnam were the ROKMC's Blue Dragon Brigade , ROKA Capital Division and the White Horse Division. Various South Korean special forces units were also deployed.

The Republic of Korea Army's Tactical Area of Responsibility was the southern half of the I Corps. The ROKMC was deployed with the I Corps, alongside U.S. Marines.

@@80 105mm Art. KR

The 105 mm M2A1 (M101A1) howitzer was a howitzer developed and used by the United States. It was the standard U.S. light field howitzer in World War II and saw action in both the European and Pacific theaters. Entering production in 1941, it quickly gained a reputation for accuracy and a powerful punch. The M101A1 fired 105-millimetre (4.1 in) high explosive (HE) semi-fixed ammunition and had a range of 11,270 metres (12,330 yd), making it suitable for supporting infantry.

The U.S. military artillery designation system was changed in 1962, redesignating the 105mm M2A1 howitzer the M101A1. The gun continued to see service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Though a similar model, the M102 howitzer, shared the same roles in battle, it never fully replaced the M101A1. Today, the M101A1 has been retired by the U.S. military, though it continues to see service with many other countries.

@@81 No OPS

The SVN/US player is limited in the types of operations they may carry out against the countries of Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam. Which types of operations may be undertaken depends on which operation icon is currently active under the country's name on the South East Asia map.

The "No OPS" icon means it is forbidden for ANY units of the SVN/US player from entering ANY tiles of the country in question.

These operational statuses can change depending on specific events that can occur during the game.

You must treat each of the aforementioned countries statuses individually, i.e. just because you have been granted the "Full Ops" right to invade Cambodia, for example, doesn't imply you can do the same for Laos or North Vietnam.

Air units may always transit over the countries tiles provided they are moving on the air map. 

The SVN/US player may always carry out operations in the Republic of Vietnam.

@@82 Air OPS

The SVN/US player is limited in the types of operations they may carry out against the countries of Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam. Which types of operations may be undertaken depends on which operation icon is currently active under the country's name on the South East Asia map.

The "Air OPS" icon means ONLY AIR (or Naval Shell) units of the SVN/US player may enter and carry out hostile actions in tiles of the country in question.

These operational statuses can change depending on specific events that can occur during the game.

You must treat each of the aforementioned countries statuses individually, i.e. just because you have been granted the "Full Ops" right to invade Cambodia, for example, doesn't imply you can do the same for Laos or North Vietnam.

Air units may always transit over the countries tiles provided they are moving on the AIR map. 

The SVN/US player may always carry out operations in the Republic of Vietnam.

@@83 Full OPS

The SVN/US player is limited in the types of operations they may carry out against the countries of Cambodia, Laos and North Vietnam. Which types of operations may be undertaken depends on which operation icon is currently active under the country's name on the South East Asia map.

The "Full OPS" icon means ANY TYPE of units of the SVN/US player may enter and carry out hostile actions in tiles of the country in question.

These operational statuses can change depending on specific events that can occur during the game.

You must treat each of the aforementioned countries statuses individually, i.e. just because you have been granted the "Full Ops" right to invade Cambodia, for example, doesn't imply you can do the same for Laos or North Vietnam.

Air units may always transit over the countries tiles provided they are moving on the air map. 

The SVN/US player may always carry out operations in the Republic of Vietnam.

@@84 105mm Art. SV

The 105 mm M2A1 (M101A1) howitzer was a howitzer developed and used by the United States. It was the standard U.S. light field howitzer in World War II and saw action in both the European and Pacific theaters. Entering production in 1941, it quickly gained a reputation for accuracy and a powerful punch. The M101A1 fired 105-millimetre (4.1 in) high explosive (HE) semi-fixed ammunition and had a range of 11,270 metres (12,330 yd), making it suitable for supporting infantry.

The U.S. military artillery designation system was changed in 1962, redesignating the 105mm M2A1 howitzer the M101A1. The gun continued to see service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Though a similar model, the M102 howitzer, shared the same roles in battle, it never fully replaced the M101A1. Today, the M101A1 has been retired by the U.S. military, though it continues to see service with many other countries.

@@85 NLF HQ

The National Liberation Front was a political organization with its own army - People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam (PLAF) - in South Vietnam and Cambodia, that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments, eventually emerging on the winning side. It had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized peasants in the territory it controlled.

North Vietnam established the National Liberation Front on December 20, 1960 to foment insurgency in the South. Many of the Viet Cong's core members were volunteer "regroupees", southern Viet Minh who had resettled in the North after the Geneva Accord (1954). 

Hanoi gave the regroupees military training and sent them back to the South along the Ho Chi Minh trail in the early 1960s. The NLF called for southern Vietnamese to "overthrow the camouflaged colonial regime of the American imperialists" and to make "efforts toward the peaceful unification". 

The People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam (PLAF)'s best-known action was the Tet Offensive, a massive assault on more than 100 South Vietnamese urban centers in 1968, including an attack on the U.S. embassy in Saigon. The offensive riveted the attention of the world's media for weeks, but also overextended the Viet Cong. Later communist offensives were conducted predominantly by the North Vietnamese. The organisation was dissolved in 1976 when North and South Vietnam were officially unified under a communist government.

@@86 VC Base Camp

The tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces, and helped to counter the growing American military effort.

There was an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi District of Saigon, and were part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Cu Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tet Offensive in 1968.

The tunnels of Cu Chi did not go unnoticed by U.S. officials. They recognized the advantages that the Viet Cong held with the tunnels, and accordingly launched several major campaigns to search out and destroy the tunnel system, but they did not bring about the desired success. Among the most important of these were Operation Crimp and Operation Cedar Falls.

Throughout the course of the war, the tunnels proved to be a source of frustration for the U.S. military. The Viet Cong had been so well entrenched, particularly in the area of Saigon by 1965, that they were in the unique position of locally being able to control where and when battles would take place. By helping to covertly move supplies and house troops, the tunnels of Cu Chi allowed North Vietnamese fighters in their area of South Vietnam to survive, help prolong the war and increase American costs and casualties until their eventual withdrawal in 1972.

@@87 Ambush

@@88 Thai Infantry

@@89 UH-1 US

The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (unofficially Huey) is a military helicopter powered by a single turboshaft engine, with two-bladed main and tail rotors. The helicopter was developed by Bell Helicopter to meet the United States Army's requirement for a medical evacuation and utility helicopter in 1952, and it first flew on 20 October 1956. Ordered into production in March 1960, the UH-1 was the first turbine-powered helicopter to enter production for the United States military, and more than 16,000 have been built, approximately 7,000 of which saw service in Vietnam.

During service in the Vietnam War, the UH-1 was used for various purposes and various terms for each task abounded. UH-1s tasked with a ground attack or armed escort role were outfitted with rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and machine guns. As early as 1962, UH-1s were modified locally by the companies themselves, who fabricated their own mounting systems. These gunship UH-1s were commonly referred to as "Frogs" or "Hogs" if they carried rockets, and "Cobras" or simply "Guns" if they had guns. UH-1s tasked and configured for troop transport were often called "Slicks" due to an absence of weapons pods. Slicks did have door gunners, but were generally employed in the troop transport and medevac roles.

UH-1s also flew hunter-killer teams with observation helicopters, namely the Bell OH-58A Kiowa and the Hughes OH-6 Cayuse (Loach). Towards the end of the conflict, the UH-1 was tested with TOW missiles, and two UH-1B helicopters equipped with the XM26 Armament Subsystem were deployed to help counter the 1972 Easter Invasion.

@@90 F-5 Tiger

The F-5E/F Tiger II were part of a supersonic light fighter family, initially designed in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. Being smaller and simpler than contemporaries such as the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, the F-5 cost less to both procure and operate, making it a popular export aircraft.

In June 1967, F-5's were supplied to the air force of South Vietnam, which previously had only Cessna A-37 Dragonfly and Douglas A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft. A new VNAF squadron was created and titled the 522nd. 

The president of Vietnam had originally asked for F-4 Phantoms used by the Americans, but the VNAF flew primarily ground support as the communist forces employed no opposing aircraft over South Vietnam. 

In view of the performance, agility and size of the F-5, it might have appeared to be a good match against the similar MiG-21 in air combat; however, U.S. doctrine was to use heavy, faster and longer-range aircraft like the Republic F-105 Thunderchief and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II over North Vietnam.

When South Vietnam was overrun by NVA forces on 30 April 1975, approximately 877 aircraft were captured by the communists. Of that number, 41 were F-5s.

@@91 A-37 Dragonfly

In August 1967, 25 A-37As were sent to Vietnam under the "Combat Dragon" evaluation program, and flew from Bien Hoa Air Base on USAF "air commando" missions, including close air support, helicopter escort, FAC, and night interdiction. 

Combat loads included high-explosive bombs, cluster munition dispensers, unguided rocket packs, napalm tanks, and the SUU-11/A Minigun pod. For most missions, the aircraft also carried two additional external fuel tanks on the inner stores pylons.

During this period, the A-37As flew thousands of sorties. None were lost to enemy fire, although two were wrecked in landing accidents. The A-37A was formally named the "Dragonfly", but most pilots called it the "Super Tweet". The Combat Dragon program was successful, but unsurprisingly the combat evaluation revealed some of the deficiencies of the A-37A.

The USAF signed a contract with Cessna in early 1967 for an improved Super Tweet, designated the "A-37B". The initial order was for 57 aircraft, but this was quickly increased to 127. The A-37Bs were primarily intended to be supplied to the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) as replacements for their Skyraiders. The A-37B prototype was rolled out in September 1967, with deliveries to the South Vietnamese beginning in 1968.

The A-37 excelled at close air support. Its straight wings allowed it to engage targets 100 miles per hour slower than swept-wing fighters. The slower speed improved bombing accuracy, enabling pilots to achieve an average accuracy of 45 feet (13.7 m).

A total of 577 A-37Bs were built, with 254 delivered to the South Vietnamese Air Force. At war's end, the A-37 had flown over 160,000 combat sorties with only 22 USAF losses. Approximately 187 A-37Bs were in South Vietnamese service when the country fell. Ninety-two were recovered by the US, while the other 95 were later used by the Communist Vietnamese in missions over Cambodia and during the China conflict in 1979.

@@92 FANK Infantry

@@93 CIDG Striker

The Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) program began in late 1961 as a counterinsurgency experiment in the central highlands of South Vietnam. Under the direction of the CIA, U.S. Special Forces began working with the Montagnard tribesman of Buon Enao village in Darlac province. They fortified the hamlet, constructed shelters and established an early warning system to warn of approaching Viet Cong. As a result of these measures the enemy was denied access to its source of food, intelligence and manpower.

Following this successful trial, Special Forces began expanding the perimeter beyond Buon Enao to encompass nearby hamlets, and by the end of 1962 the program had secured several hundred villages in Darlac province.

Despite the obvious achievements of the CIDG program under the CIA, by July 1963 control had been transferred to MACV as part of Operation Switchback. Rather than gradually growing the village defense system as the CIA had done, MACV rapidly expanded the program and began establishing CIDG camps along the Cambodian and Laotian borders. These served as bases for offensive operations, from which Special Forces and CIDG Camp Strike forces conducted border surveillance, ambushes and attacks against the Viet Cong and infiltrators from North Vietnam. 

In late 1965 the CIDG became a two tiered force, with Mobile Strike Forces created in addition to the existing Camp Strike Forces. Located in each of the four corps areas (CTZ) and with another at Nha Trang, Mike Forces were organized to rapidly reinforce any CIDG camp under attack.  

From 1967 Special Forces gradually began to hand over control of CIDG camps to their Vietnamese counterparts, Luc Luong Dac Biet (LLDB). Both Camp and Mobile Strike Forces were also increasingly used in conjunction with regular US, ARVN and Free World forces and participated in both the urban fighting during the Tet Offensive and the 1970 Cambodian Incursion.

In 1969 MACV deemed that the Vietnamese Army was able to takeover the missions of border surveillance and interdiction. The 37 CIDG camps not already closed or converted to Regional Forces status were transfered to the ARVN Rangers in late 1970, as were the Camp Strike Forces. The Civilian Irregular Defense Group program officially ended on 31 December 1970. 

@@94 Popular Forces

@@95 Special Forces

@@96 A-1 Skyraider

The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly AD) was an American single-seat attack aircraft that saw service between the late 1940s and early 1980s. The Skyraider had a remarkably long and successful career; it became a piston-powered, propeller-driven anachronism in the jet age, and was nicknamed "Spad", after the French World War I fighter.

It was operated by the United States Navy (USN), the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and the United States Air Force (USAF), and also saw service with the British Royal Navy, the French Air Force, the Air Force of the Republic of Vietnam (VNAF), and others. In U.S. service, it was finally replaced by the LTV A-7 Corsair II swept wing subsonic jet in the early 1970s.

As American involvement in the Vietnam War began, the A-1 Skyraider was still the medium attack aircraft in many carrier air wings, although it was planned to be replaced by the A-6A Intruder as part of the general switch to jet aircraft. Skyraiders from Constellation and Ticonderoga participated in the first U.S. Navy strikes against North Vietnam on 5 August 1964 as part of Operation Pierce Arrow in response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, striking against fuel depots at Vinh, with one Skyraider from Ticonderoga damaged by anti-aircraft fire, and a second from Constellation shot down, killing its pilot.

During the war, U.S. Navy Skyraiders shot down two North Vietnamese Air Force (NVAF) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 jet fighters: one on 20 June 1965, a victory shared by Lieutenant Clinton B. Johnson and Lieutenant, junior grade Charles W. Hartman III of VA-25; and one on 9 October 1966 by LTJG William T. Patton of VA-176. Using their cannons, this was the first gun kill of Vietnam. While on his very first mission, Navy pilot LTJG Dieter Dengler took damage to his A-1H over Vietnam on 1 February 1966, and crash-landed in Laos.

@@97 AH-1 Cobra

By June 1967, the first AH-1G HueyCobras had been delivered to Vietnam. Originally designated as UH-1H, the "A" for attack designation was soon adopted and when the improved UH-1D became the UH-1H, the HueyCobra became the AH-1G. 

AH-1 Cobras were in use by the Army during the Tet offensive in 1968 and through to the end of the Vietnam War. Cobras provided fire support for ground forces, escorted transport helicopters and other roles, including aerial rocket artillery (ARA) battalions in the two Airmobile divisions. They also formed "hunter killer" teams by pairing with OH-6A scout helicopters.

Bell built 1,116 AH-1Gs for the U.S. Army between 1967 and 1973, and the Cobras chalked up over a million operational hours in Vietnam; the number of Cobras in service peaked at 1,081. Out of nearly 1,110 AH-1s delivered from 1967 to 1973 approximately 300 were lost to combat and accidents during the war. The U.S. Marine Corps used AH-1G Cobras in Vietnam for a short time before acquiring twin-engine AH-1J Cobras.

@@98 Tunnel Rats

During the Vietnam War "tunnel rat" became a more or less official specialty for volunteer infantrymen, primarily from the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Their motto was the Latin phrase "Non Gratus Rodentum""not worth a rat". Since the 1940s, during the war against the French colonial forces, the Viet Cong had created an extensive underground system of complexes. By the 1960s, there were underground hospitals, training grounds, storage facilities, headquarters and more. The Viet Cong, who were skilled at guerrilla warfare, might stay underground for several months at a time. The tunnels were their territory.

Whenever troops would uncover a tunnel, tunnel rats were sent in to kill any hiding enemy soldiers and to plant explosives to destroy the tunnels. A tunnel rat was equipped with only a standard issue .45 caliber pistol, a bayonet and a flashlight, although most tunnel rats were allowed to choose another pistol with which to arm themselves. The tunnels were very dangerous, with numerous booby traps and enemies lying in wait.

The tunnels presented many potential threats: enemy soldiers manned holes on the sides of tunnels through which spears could be thrust, impaling a crawling intruder. Not only were there human enemies, but also dangerous creatures, such as snakes (including venomous ones, sometimes placed there as living booby traps), rats, spiders, scorpions and ants. Black-Bearded Tomb Bats (Taphozous melanopogon) and Lesser Dawn Bats (Eonycteris spelaea) also roosted in the tunnels, though they were a harmless nuisance if awakened. Often there were flooded U-bends in the tunnels to trap poison gas. Underground, gas could be a very deadly weapon, and a tunnel rat might choose to go into the tunnels wearing a gas mask as it would be impossible to put one on in a narrow tunnel. More often than not, however, a tunnel rat would take his chances without a gas mask, as wearing one made it even harder to see, hear and breathe in the narrow, dark tunnels.

@@99 SAM Missile

The V-750 is a two-stage missile consisting of a solid-fuel booster and a storable liquid-fuel upper stage, which burns red fuming nitric acid as the oxidizer and kerosene as the fuel. The booster fires for about 45 seconds and the main engine for about 22 seconds, by which time the missile is traveling at about Mach 3. The booster mounts four large, cropped-delta wing fins that have small control surfaces in their trailing edges to control roll. The upper stage has smaller cropped-deltas near the middle of the airframe, with a smaller set of control surfaces at the extreme rear and (in most models) much smaller fins on the nose.

The missiles are guided using radio control signals (sent on one of three channels) from the guidance computers at the site. The earlier S-75 models received their commands via two sets of four small antennas in front of the forward fins while the D model and later models used four much larger strip antennas running between the forward and middle fins. The guidance system at an S-75 site can handle only one target at a time, but it can direct three missiles against it. Additional missiles could be fired against the same target after one or more missiles of the first salvo had completed their run, freeing the radio channel.

The missile typically mounts a 195 kg (430 lb) fragmentation warhead, with proximity, contact, and command fusing. The warhead has a lethal radius of about 65 m (213 ft) at lower altitudes, but at higher altitudes the thinner atmosphere allows for a wider radius of up to 250 m (820 ft). The missile itself is accurate to about 75 m (246 ft), which explains why two were typically fired in a salvo. One version, the SA-2E, mounted a 295 kg (650 lb) nuclear warhead of an estimated 15 Kiloton yield or a conventional warhead of similar weight.

Typical range for the missile is about 45 km (28 mi), with a maximum altitude around 20,000 m (66,000 ft). The radar and guidance system imposed a fairly long short-range cutoff of about 500 to 1,000 m (1,600 to 3,300 ft), making them fairly safe for engagements at low level.

@@100 Naval Shell

The 16"/50 caliber Mark 7  United States Naval Gun was the main armament of the Iowa-class battleships.

These guns were 50 calibers longor 50 times their 16-inch (406 mm) bore diameter which makes the barrels 66.6 feet (20 m) long, from breechface to muzzle. Each gun weighed about 239,000 pounds (108,000 kg) without the breech, or 267,900 pounds (121,517 kg) with the breech. They fired projectiles weighing from 1,900 to 2,700 pounds (850 to 1,200 kg) at a maximum speed of 2,690 feet per second (820 m/s) with a range of up to 24 miles (39 km). At maximum range the projectile spent almost 1 minutes in flight.

The Mark 7 gun was originally intended to fire the relatively light 2,240-pound (1,020 kg) Mark 5 armor-piercing shell. However, the shell-handling system for these guns was redesigned to use the "super-heavy" 2,700-pound (1,200 kg) APC (Armor Piercing, Capped) Mark 8 shell before any of the Iowa-class battleship were laid down. The large-caliber guns were designed to fire two different 16 in (406 mm) shells: an armor-piercing round for anti-ship and anti-structure work, and a high-explosive round designed for use against unarmored targets and shore bombardment.

During the battleship New Jersey's tour of duty along the gunline in Vietnam, she had fired 5,688 rounds of 16 inch shells, and 14,891 rounds of 5-inch shells.

@@101 US Firebase

A fire support base (FSB, firebase or FB) was a temporary military encampment widely used during the Vietnam War to provide artillery fire support to infantry operating in areas beyond the normal range of fire support from their own base camps.

A fire support base was originally a temporary firing base for artillery, although many evolved into more permanent bases. Their main components varied by size: a typical FSB usually had a battery of six 105 millimeter or 155mm howitzers, a platoon of engineers permanently on station for construction and maintenance projects, at least two landing pads for helicopters (a smaller VIP pad and at least one resupply pad), a Tactical Operations Center (TOC), an aid station staffed with medics, a communications bunker, and a company of infantry serving as the defense garrison.  Large FSBs might also have two artillery batteries, and an infantry battalion.

One of the first fire support bases constructed by U.S. troops was built in October 1965. Designated Bill, it was built by the First Cavalry Division in Pleiku Province soon after the division arrived in South Vietnam. Based on the original concept developed by that division, firebases would move about every two days, minimizing the amount of security and semi-permanent construction they would need. Over time this changed, and firebases evolved into small forts with all the defensive measures those required.

@@102 Hamlet

@@103 LPH

The fleet provided direct support to the campaign in South Vietnam with its long-established Amphibious Ready Group and Special Landing Force (ARG/SLF). The powerful, versatile, and mobile formation capable of striking along the length of the South Vietnamese littoral and far inland.

Initially, the ARG usually consisted of three or four ships, including an amphibious assault ship (LPH), a dock landing ship (LSD), an attack transport (APA) or an amphibious transport dock (LPD), and a tank landing ship (LST). Other amphibious vessels often augmented this force. The Marine SLF was composed of a medium helicopter squadron equipped with 24 UH-34s and embarked in the LPH. An infantry battalion landing team, reinforced with artillery, armor, engineer, and other support units, comprised the ground combat element. These men and their equipment were divided among the ships, enabling landings on shore by helicopter, by the force's 41 organic tracked landing vehicles (LVT), or by both methods.

A battalion of the 9th Marines was one of the first units to land in Vietnam following the decision to commit Marine forces against the Viet Cong. On 8 March 1965, BLT (Battalion Landing Team) 3/9, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Charles E. McPartllin, Jr., landed in Da Nang in central Vietnam as part of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade. Although clearly communicating that the Marines had arrived, the landing was an administrative landing in friendly territory, rather than an assault landing on an enemy-held beach.

During this preparation, the U.S. command took advantage of good intelligence to launch Operation Starlite, perhaps the greatest amphibious success of the war. Discovering that the 1st Viet Cong Regiment planned to attack the Marine enclave at Chu Lai from a coastal village 12 miles to the south, General Westmoreland directed the III Marine Amphibious Force, the chief Marine command in South Vietnam, to preempt the assault and destroy the 1,500-man enemy unit. Between 18 and 25 August, a cruiser and two destroyers poured accurate naval gunfire on the enemy concentration as the Seventh Fleet Amphibious Ready Group landed Marine units on the beach. Other elements were helicoptered inland from Iwo Jima (LPH 2) and Chu Lai. By the end of the week-long battle, the 1st Viet Cong Regiment was pushed up to the sea by three Marine and two South Vietnamese battalions and then pounded by air and naval gunfire. At the cost of 45 Marines killed and 203 wounded, the allied force inflicted 623 casualties on the enemy unit, putting it out of action for some time.

During January 1968, the ARG/SLF Marines carried out four heliborne operations ashore in I Corps. The enemy's massive Tet Offensive, launched on the 30th, soon demanded the suspension of amphibious landings and long-term commitment ashore of the fleet's Marine forces. During the next four months, the ships of both ARGs served as havens for the Navy's riverine combat and logistic craft deployed to the area for the emergency. This sea- based support was crucial to the eventual allied military success in the northern reaches of South Vietnam. From June to the end of the year, the amphibious task forces took part in nine I Corps operations that decimated Communist forces fighting to hold Hue and the surrounding region. 

@@104 CVN Battlegroup

The U.S. Navy's involvement in the Vietnam War started with offshore patrols and missions in support of the U.S. Advisors in South Vietnam. Vietnam's long coastline, thousands of islands, and many miles of inland waterway demanded the use of naval forces. For the Vietnam War, the Navy chain of command ran from MACV -- General William C. Westmoreland and then General Creighton Abrams -- who directed the actions of the III Marine Amphibious Force and the U.S. Naval Forces, Vietnam (NAVFORV) command, which handled Navy river, coastal, advisory, special operations, and logistical commands in South Vietnam.

The aircraft carriers of the Seventh Fleet's Task Force 77 played a major role in U.S. bombing operations when the war began in earnest during March 1965. The carriers and their cruiser and destroyer escorts steamed at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin and, for over a year, Dixie Station southeast of Cam Ranh Bay. The Rolling Thunder, Linebacker, and other air campaigns involved the bombing of enemy power plants, fuel and supply facilities, highway and railroad bridges, and rail lines in North Vietnam and Laos.

Early in the war, massive, multi-carrier "Alpha Strikes" were typical. In one 70-plane operation, the air wings from USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) and USS Hancock (CVA-19) struck North Vietnamese radar sites on the coast and on Bach Long Vi, Nightingale Island, in the Gulf of Tonkin. In addition to airborne search and rescue, an American submarine in the Gulf of Tonkin picked up downed flyers. As the air war went on, the naval command adopted different tactics to improve the effectiveness of the carrier strikes while minimizing losses of men and planes, such as bombing by one or two A-6 Intruders on pinpoint targets.

Early in the war, the Navy's carrier squadrons were destroying two enemy fighters for every one they lost; an unacceptable win-to-loss ratio. As a result of intensive air-to-air combat training at California's Miramar Naval Air Station, the "Top Gun School," the ratio improved to 12-to-1 during air operations in 1972 and early 1973.

Carrier-based planes also provided essential close air support to U.S. and allied ground forces fighting North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam. Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft operating from Seventh Fleet destroyers and carriers executed search and rescue missions that saved hundreds of U.S. aviators whose aircraft went down in North Vietnam and Laos or at sea.

By 1972 President Nixon had achieved diplomatic assurances that Moscow or Beijing would not interfere, so he ordered the Seventh Fleet to mine the waters of North Vietnam. Navy and Marine attack aircraft from aircraft carrier Coral Sea dropped thousands of mines in the approaches to Haiphong and North Vietnam's other major ports. With no merchant ships bringing in supplies of surface-to-air missiles or other munitions, the Communist war effort was quickly curtailed. The Seventh Fleet's mining of North Vietnam's ports in 1972 and 1973, in conjunction with the Air Force-Navy Linebacker bombing campaign, helped return North Vietnam to the Paris Peace talks that ended the Vietnam War for the United States.

@@105 USS New Jersey

Due to heavy loss rates of U.S. aircraft (commencing with Operation Rolling Thunder in 1965), studies were conducted on ways of alleviating those air losses while at the same time delivering the ordnance payloads required by the escalation of the war. 

In August 1967 the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, made the decision to recommission a battleship "for employment in the Pacific Fleet to augment the naval gunfire support force in Southeast Asia".

Departing Long Beach 2 September 1967, the USS New Jersey (BB-62) touched at Pearl Harbor and Subic Bay before sailing 25 September for her first tour on the gun line along the Vietnamese coast. 

Near the 17th parallel on 30 September, the battleship fired her first shots in battle in over sixteen years, expending a total of 29 sixteen inch rounds against People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) targets in and near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel.

New Jersey took up station off Tiger Island 1 October and fired at targets north of the DMZ before moving south that afternoon to engage Viet Cong targets.

On 28 March 1968 New Jersey took up station south of the DMZ to aid the 3rd Marine Division, remaining there until 1 April, whereupon New Jersey departed for Japan. During the battleship's tour of duty along the gunline in Vietnam, New Jersey had fired 5,688 rounds of 16 inch shells, and 14,891 rounds of 5-inch shells.

The New Jersey never returned to Vietnam. According to official reports, for reasons of economy, on 22 August 1969 the Secretary of Defense released a list of names of ships to be inactivated; at the top of the list was New Jersey.

@@106 57mm AA Gun

The 57 mm AZP S-60 automatic anti-aircraft gun was a Soviet towed, road-transportable, short- to medium-range, single-barrel anti-aircraft gun from the 1950s. The gun was extensively used in Warsaw Pact, Middle Eastern and South-East Asian countries.

During the Vietnam War, the S-60 was the keystone of North Vietnamese low-altitude air defense and was most effective between 460 meters and 1,500 meters.

@@107 85mm AA Gun

The 85 mm air defense gun M1939 (52-K) was an 85-mm Soviet air defense gun, developed under guidance of leading Soviet designers M. N. Loginov and G. D. Dorokhin during the late 1930's. This gun was successfully used throughout the German-Soviet War against level bombers and other high- and medium-altitude targets.

Virtually every country behind the Iron Curtain received this gun after World War II for their air defense, including North Vietnam.

@@108 SA-2 Guideline

The S-75 Dvina (NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defense system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Since its first deployment in 1957 it has become the most widely deployed air defense system in history. It scored the first destruction of an enemy aircraft by a surface-to-air missile, shooting down a Taiwanese Martin RB-57D Canberra over China, on October 7, 1959, hitting it with three V-750 (1D) missiles at an altitude of 20 km (65,600 ft). This success was attributed to Chinese fighter aircraft at the time in order to keep the S-75 program secret.

This system first gained international fame when an S-75 battery, using the newer, longer-range and higher-altitude V-750VN (13D) missile was deployed in the 1960 U-2 incident, when it shot down the U-2 of Francis Gary Powers overflying the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. 

In 1965, North Vietnam asked for some assistance against American airpower, for their own air-defense system lacked the ability to shoot down aircraft flying at high altitude. After some discussion it was agreed to supply the PAVN with the S-75. The decision was not made lightly, because it greatly increased the chances that one would fall into US hands for study. Site preparation started early in the year, and the US detected the program almost immediately on April 5, 1965.

On July 24, 1965, a USAF F-4C aircraft was shot down by an SA-2. Three days later, the US responded with Operation Iron Hand to attack the other sites before they could become operational. Most of the S-75 were deployed around the Hanoi-Haiphong area and were off-limits to attack (as were local airfields) for political reasons.

@@109 CH-47 Chinook

The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is an American twin-engine, tandem rotor heavy-lift helicopter. Its primary roles are troop movement, artillery placement and battlefield resupply. It has a wide loading ramp at the rear of the fuselage and three external ventral cargo hooks. With a top speed of 170 knots (196 mph, 315 km/h) the helicopter was faster than contemporary 1960s utility helicopters and attack helicopters, and is still one of the fastest helicopters in the US inventory.

The Army finally settled on the larger Chinook as its standard medium transport helicopter and as of February 1966, 161 aircraft had been delivered to the Army. The 1st Cavalry Division had brought their organic Chinook battalion with them when they arrived in 1965 and a separate aviation medium helicopter company, the 147th, had arrived in Vietnam on 29 November 1965. This latter company was initially placed in direct support of the 1st Infantry Division.

The most spectacular mission in Vietnam for the Chinook was the placing of artillery batteries in perilous mountain positions inaccessible by any other means, and then keeping them resupplied with large quantities of ammunition. The 1st Cavalry Division found that its CH-47s were limited to a 7,000-pound (3,200 kg) payload when operating in the mountains, but could carry an additional 1,000 pounds (450 kg) when operating near the coast.

@@110 UH-1 ARVN

The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (unofficially Huey) is a military helicopter powered by a single turboshaft engine, with two-bladed main and tail rotors. The helicopter was developed by Bell Helicopter to meet the United States Army's requirement for a medical evacuation and utility helicopter in 1952, and it first flew on 20 October 1956. Ordered into production in March 1960, the UH-1 was the first turbine-powered helicopter to enter production for the United States military, and more than 16,000 have been built, approximately 7,000 of which saw service in Vietnam.

During service in the Vietnam War, the UH-1 was used for various purposes and various terms for each task abounded. UH-1s tasked with a ground attack or armed escort role were outfitted with rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and machine guns. As early as 1962, UH-1s were modified locally by the companies themselves, who fabricated their own mounting systems. These gunship UH-1s were commonly referred to as "Frogs" or "Hogs" if they carried rockets, and "Cobras" or simply "Guns" if they had guns. UH-1s tasked and configured for troop transport were often called "Slicks" due to an absence of weapons pods. Slicks did have door gunners, but were generally employed in the troop transport and medevac roles.

The South Vietnamese were initally equipped with the CH-34 Sikorsky. Nicknamed the "Kingbee", it was basically a cargo helicopter and though it was not as maneuverable or easy to maintain as the UH-1 it was sturdy and though. As the war progressed, though, the VNAF was increasingly equipped with the Huey.

@@111 NVA Garrison

Vietnam Border Defence Force is branch of the Vietnam People's Army, as the core, responsible management and protection of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, security, order and national boundaries on the mainland, islands, sea and at the gate as shall by law and is a force members in provincial areas of defence, border districts of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

On 19 November 1958, the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam has decided to unite national defence forces and army units whose mission is to protect domestic, border protection, beach, boundary and other armed forces in charge of protecting the domestic and border guards,... under management by Police Department, named Guard forces. Guard forces including Border Guard and Homeland Guard.

On 3 March 1959, the Prime Minister of Vietnam signed Decision No. 100 - TTg on the establishment of an armed force in charge of border protection and domestic, to be known as the People's Armed Police, set under the leadership of the Ministry of Public Security. This date is taken as the date of establishment of the Vietnam Border Defence Force.

@@112 A-4 Skyhawk

Skyhawks were the U.S. Navy's primary light attack aircraft used over North Vietnam during the early years of the Vietnam War; they were later supplanted by the A-7 Corsair II in the U.S. Navy light attack role. 

Skyhawks carried out some of the first air strikes by the US during the conflict, and a Marine Skyhawk is believed to have dropped the last American bombs on the country.

The first combat loss of an A-4 occurred on 5 August 1964, when Lieutenant junior grade Alvarez, of VA-144 aboard the USS Constellation, was shot down while attacking enemy torpedo boats in North Vietnam. Alvarez safely ejected after being hit by anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) fire, and became the first US Naval POW of the war; he was released as a POW on 12 February 1973.

Although the first A-4Es were flown in Vietnam in early 1965, the A-4Cs continued to be used until late 1970.

During the war, 362 A-4/TA-4F Skyhawks were lost due to all causes. The U.S. Navy lost 271 A-4s, the U.S. Marine Corps lost 81 A-4s and 10 TA-4Fs. A total of 32 A-4s were lost to surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and one A-4 was lost in aerial combat to a MiG-17 on 25 April 1967.

@@113 F-4B Phantom

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II[N 1] is a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor aircraft/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable, it was also adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force, and by the mid-1960s had become a major part of their respective air wings.

During the Vietnam War, the F-4 was used extensively; it served as the principal air superiority fighter for both the Navy and Air Force, and became important in the ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance roles late in the war. The Phantom has the distinction of being the last U.S. fighter flown to attain ace status in the 20th century. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force had one pilot and two weapon systems officers (WSOs), and the US Navy had one pilot and one radar intercept officer (RIO) become aces by achieving five aerial kills against enemy fighter aircraft.

By the time of the Tonkin Gulf incident, 13 of 31 deployable navy squadrons were armed with the Phantom. F-4Bs from Constellation made the first Phantom combat sortie of the Vietnam War on 5 August 1964, flying bomber escort in Operation Pierce Arrow. 

The first Phantom air-to-air victory of the war took place on 9 April 1965 when an F-4B from VF-96 "Fighting Falcons" piloted by Lieutenant (junior grade) Terence M. Murphy and his RIO, Ensign Ronald Fegan, shot down a Chinese MiG-17 "Fresco". The Phantom was then shot down, probably by an AIM-7 Sparrow from one of its wingmen. There continues to be controversy over whether the Phantom was shot down by MiG guns or, as enemy reports later indicated, an AIM-7 Sparrow III from one of Murphy's and Fegan's wingmen. On 17 June 1965, an F-4B from VF-21 "Freelancers" piloted by Commander Louis Page and Lieutenant John C. Smith shot down the first North Vietnamese MiG of the war.

@@114 A-6 Intruder

A-6 Intruders first saw action during the Vietnam War, where the craft were used extensively against targets in Vietnam. The aircraft's long range and heavy payload (18,000 pounds or 8,200 kilograms) coupled with its ability to fly in all weather made it invaluable during the war. 

However, its typical mission profile of flying low to deliver its payload made it especially vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire, and in the eight years the Intruder was used during the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps lost a total of 84 A-6 aircraft of various series. 

The first loss occurred on 14 July 1965 when an Intruder from Attack Squadron 75 (VA-75) from the carrier USS Independence, flown by LT Donald Boecker and LT Donald Eaton, commenced a dive on a target near Laos. An explosion under the starboard wing damaged the starboard engine, causing the aircraft to catch fire and the hydraulics to fail. Seconds later the port engine failed, the controls froze, and the two crewmen ejected. Both crewmen survived.

Of the 84 Intruders lost to all causes during the war, ten were shot down by surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), two were shot down by MiGs, 16 were lost to operational causes, and 56 were lost to conventional ground fire and AAA. The last Intruder to be lost during the war was from Attack Squadron 35 (VA-35), flown by LT C. M. Graf and LT S. H. Hatfield, from the carrier USS America; they were shot down by ground fire on 24 January 1973 while providing close air support. The airmen ejected and were rescued by a Navy helicopter. 

Twenty U.S. Navy aircraft carriers rotated through the waters of Southeast Asia, providing air strikes, from the early 1960s through the early 1970s. Nine of those carriers lost A-6 Intruders: USS Constellation lost 11, USS Ranger lost eight, USS Coral Sea lost six, USS Midway lost two, USS Independence lost four, USS Kitty Hawk lost 14, USS Saratoga lost three, USS Enterprise lost eight, and USS America lost two. 

Although capable of embarking aboard aircraft carriers, most U.S. Marine Corps A-6 Intruders were shore based in South Vietnam at Chu Lai and Da Nang and in Nam Phong, Thailand.

@@115 A-7 Corsair

The Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II was a carrier-capable subsonic light attack aircraft introduced to replace the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. The A-7 airframe design was based on the successful supersonic Vought F-8 Crusader, although it was somewhat smaller and rounded off. The Corsair II initially entered service with the United States Navy during the Vietnam War. It was later adopted by the United States Air Force, including the Air National Guard, to replace the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, and North American F-100 Super Sabre. 

From 1967 to 1971, a total of 27 Navy squadrons took delivery of four different A-7A/B/C/E models. The Vought plant in Dallas, TX employed up to 35,000 workers who turned out one aircraft a day for several years to support the Navy carrier-based needs for Vietnam and SE Asia and commitments to NATO in Europe.

In Vietnam, the hot, humid air robbed even the upgraded A-7D and A-7E of power. Takeoff rolls were lengthy, and fully armed aircraft struggled to reach 500 mph (800 km/h). For A-7A aircraft, high density altitude and maximum weight runway takeoffs often necessitated a "low transition", where the aircraft was intentionally held in "ground effect" a few feet off the runway during gear retraction, and as much as a 10-mile (16 km) departure at treetop altitude before reaching a safe flap retraction speed.

Carrier catapult launches at maximum weight under these performance-robbing conditions were not significantly better and were characterized by the aircraft decelerating by as much as 20 knots (37 km/h) immediately after launch. As a result, A-7A units operated their aircraft 4,000 pounds below the max-rated takeoff weight for the A-7E.

In a sortie against the Thanh Ha Bridge on 6 October 1972, four A-7Cs from VA-82 successfully delivered 8,000 lbs of high explosives with two planes carrying two 2,000 lb (910 kg) Walleyes, while two others also carried 2,000 lbs in Mk 84 GP bombs. In a simultaneous attack, the center piling on the bridge's west side was hit and broke the span in half. After this, the Thanh Hoa bridge was considered permanently destroyed and removed from the target list.

A total of 98 USN A-7 Corsairs were lost during the war.

@@116 F-8 Crusader

The Vought F-8 Crusader (originally F8U) was a single-engine, supersonic, carrier-based air superiority jet aircraft built by Vought for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, replacing the Vought F7U Cutlass. The first F-8 prototype was ready for flight in February 1955, and served principally in the Vietnam War. The Crusader was the last American fighter with guns as the primary weapon, earning it the title "The Last of the Gunfighters".

When conflict erupted in the skies over North Vietnam, it was U.S. Navy Crusaders from the USS Hancock that first tangled with Vietnam People's Air Force (North Vietnamese Air Force) MiG-17s on 3 April 1965. At the time, the Crusader was the best dogfighter the United States had against the nimble North Vietnamese MiGs. 

USMC Crusaders flew only in the south, while U.S. Navy Crusaders flew only from the small Essex-class carriers. Marine Crusaders also operated in close air support missions.

The Crusader would claim the best kill ratio of any American type in the Vietnam War, 19:3. Of the 19 aircraft claimed during aerial combat, 16 were MiG-17s and three were MiG-21s. U.S. records only indicate 3 F-8s lost in aerial combat, all to MiG-17 cannon fire in 1966, but the NVAF claimed 11 F-8s were shot down by MiGs. A total of 170 F-8 Crusaders would be lost to all causes during the war.

@@117 Oil Depot

@@118 Ind Zone I

@@119 Ind Zone II

@@120 HCMT Truck I

@@121 HCMT Truck II

@@122 HCMT Truck III

@@123 View

The "View" icon is merely used to make the different "OPS" icons visible when they are updated through the events file, otherwise a new OPS icon that is placed on top of a previous icon becomes invisible until such a time as a friendly unit moves next to it. 

For example, if South Vietnam researches the "NVN Invasion", the "Air OPS" icons on tile (8,10) will be switched with the "Full OPS" icon. By generating the View icon next to the "Full OPS" icon, at the same time, it ensures that the new OPS icon is visible to the player, thereby confirming that the SVN/US player must abide by the rules set out in game concept #3 of the ReadMe file.

The SVN/US player must, thereafter, disband the View icon before the end of the turn.

@@124 101st Airmobile

In July 1965, the 1st brigade of the 101st Airborne Division was deployed to Vietnam as an independent unit. The rest of the 101st was deployed to Vietnam in November 1967 and the 1st Brigade rejoined its parent Division. At this time, the entire division was reorganized and redesignated as an airmobile division. 

The combat elements of the division consisted of 10 battalions of airmobile infantry, six battalions of artillery, an aerial rocket artillery unit armed with rocket-firing helicopters, and an air reconnaissance unit. Another unique feature of the division was its aviation group, which consisted of three aviation battalions of assault helicopters and gunships.

The 101st was deployed in the northern I Corps region operating against the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) infiltration routes through Laos and the A Shau Valley for most of the war. In almost seven years of combat in Vietnam, elements of the 101st participated in 15 campaigns. Notable among these were the Battle of Hamburger Hill in 1969 and Firebase Ripcord in 1970.

The North Vietnamese called the 101st Airborne the "Chicken Men" because of their insignia. (The Vietnamese had never seen an eagle before). Many enemy commanders warned their men to avoid the Chicken Men at all costs because any engagement with them, they were sure to lose.

@@125 SVN Police

The Republic of Vietnam National Police, RVNP, was officially created by President Ngo Dinh Diem's national decree in June 1962 from a conglomerate of smaller internal security and paramilitary agencies formed by the French Union authorities during the First Indochina War between 1946 and 1954, and would come to operate closely with the ARVN during the Vietnam War.

The RVNP included the Vietnamese Sret, Saigon Municipal Police, elements of the colonial National Guard of South Vietnam (French: Garde Nationale du Viet Nam Sud  GNVS, or VBNV in Vietnamese), a rural Gendarmerie force or Civil Guard (French: Garde Civile), the combat police and various provincial militia forces made of irregular auxiliaries (French: Suppltifs). 

Subordinated to the South Vietnamese Interior Ministry, all components of the Police system were administered directly by the CSQG Command at the National Police Headquarters in Saigon, which also provided technical or combat support for law-enforcement and other internal security duties throughout the Country. By the late 1960s, the Vietnamese National Police was organized into eight major specialized departements or branches.

Specialists such as field policemen, patrol boat crewmen, vehicle drivers (this category included squad car, armoured car and Jeep drivers, and motorcyclists), radio operators, medics, mechanics, and clerks were trained in various other National Police and Armed Forces schools. Field Police personnel  including officers and NCOs  underwent eight weeks of training in paramilitary skills at the Ma Lai A and Phi Luat Tan CSQG training Centres. More specialized training was also provided to selected male and female personnel assigned to the other CSQG branches.

@TERRAIN_AND_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTIONS

@@TERRAIN_INDEX
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
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-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			; 
-1,			;
-1,			; Extra terrrain Bbb1
-1,			; Extra terrrain Ccc1
-1,			; Extra terrrain Ddd1
-1,			; Extra terrrain Eee1
-1,			; Extra terrrain fff1
-2,	;	MUST BE HERE! TERMINATOR!

;Terrain Types
@@00

@@01

@@02

@@03

@@04

@@05

@@06

@@07

@@08

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@@10

@@11

@@12

@@13

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@GOVERNMENT_DESCRIPTIONS

@@GOVERNMENT_INDEX
0,			; Anarchy
1,			; Despotism
5,			; Monarchy
2,			; Communism
4,			; Fundamentalism
6,			; Republic
3,			; Democracy
-2,			; MUST BE HERE! TERMINATOR!

@@Anarchy
Anarchy represents not so much a government type as the lack of any stable government. Anarchy occurs when your civilization's government falls, or when you decide to have a Revolution. After a few turns of Anarchy, you can rebuild a new government. Anarchy is similar to Despotism, except that the corruption rate is VERY HIGH. However, no taxes are collected during a period of Anarchy, and no scientific research is conducted.

@@Despotism	
In a Despotism, the ruler has absolute control over his or her subjects, and this control is usually enforced by the military. This system has a tendency to minimize individual freedom, and reduce the efficiency of production efforts. 

* Each unit above the city size costs one Shield per turn.
* Settlers eat one Food per turn.

Up to three military units in each city institute "martial law". Each of these units makes one unhappy citizen content.

Despotism has a high rate of corruption and waste. The farther a city is from your capital, the higher its level of corruption.

* Under a Despotism, Tax/Luxury/Science rates cannot be set higher than 60%.
* Any terrain square that ordinarily produces three or more of any resource (Food, Shields, or Trade) produces one less.
* Because of Despotism's high rate of corruption, it is almost always an inferior form of government. Try to switch to a Monarchy as soon as possible.

@@Communism
A Communist government is ruled by a controlling party, with a single person, known as a chairman, acting as the head of state. In a true Communist system, all property is owned collectively by the people, and labor is organized to be equally advantageous to all people. This ideal has never truly been realized, however, and the "Communist" governments of the world are usually much different.

* Each unit beyond the third unit costs one Shield per turn.
* Settlers eat one Food per turn.

Up to three military units in each city institute "martial law". Each of these units makes two unhappy citizens content.

Under Communism, state control of the economy eliminates organized crime. Your cities, therefore, experience no corruption.

* All Spy units produced under Communist governments are Veterans.
* Under Communism, Tax/Luxury/Science rates cannot be set higher than 80%. 

* Communism is best for large, far-flung empires that need to maintain a large military.
* Use your powerful Spies to steal technology from the capitalist pigs!

@@Democracy
A Democracy is ruled by a president elected by the people. The rulings of the president are subject to review by the Senate, a group of elected representatives who serve the best interests of the citizens. Democracy allows its citizens a higher degree of personal freedom and involvement than any other form of government.

* Each unit costs one shield per turn.
* Settlers eat two Food per turn.

Each unit that is not in a friendly city (or in a Fortress within three squares of a friendly city) causes two citizens in its home city to become unhappy.

Democracies experience no corruption or waste.

* Tax/Luxury/Science rates can be set to any level desired.
* Under a Democracy, each square that ordinarily produces at least one unit of Trade produces an extra unit of Trade.
* The units and cities of a Democracy are immune to bribery in any form.
* Your senate may force a peaceful solution in a conflict.

* Democracies can produce spectacular amounts of revenue and scientific research. However, because of the severe happiness restrictions on military units, this form of government tends to be viable only for large, advanced civilizations.
* Increasing your Luxury rate and building Improvements and Wonders can help alleviate unhappiness.

@@Fundamentalism
* Each unit costs one Shield per turn.
* Settlers eat two Food per turn.

Under Fascism, no citizen is ever unhappy!

Nazi efficiency ensures Fascism has NO corruption.

* Under Fascism, Tax/Luxury/Science rates cannot be set higher than 80%.
* Fascism has the special disadvantage that all SCIENCE is CUT 30% due to throwing out intellectuals.
* Improvements which convert unhappy citizens to content citizens (Temples, etc.) are stormed and produce "seizings" equal to the number of citizens they would otherwise convert.  They also require no maintenance.
* The diplomatic penalties for terrorist acts committed by Diplomats and Spies is reduced.

* Fascism eliminates all happiness problems and provides an excellent revenue.  Military affairs do well.

@@Monarchy
A Monarchy is ruled by a single person, known as a monarch. The monarch's rule is less absolute than that of a despot, and he or she usually has the acceptance of at least the upper-class. The aristocrats under this system of government have some economic freedom, allowing the civilization to be more productive. 

* Each unit beyond the third unit costs one Shield per turn.
* Settlers eat one Food per turn.

Up to three military units in each city institute "martial law". Each of these units makes one unhappy citizen content.

Monarchy has a moderate rate of corruption and waste. The farther a city is from your capital, the higher its level of corruption.

* Under a Monarchy, Tax/Luxury/Science rates cannot be set higher than 70%.

* Monarchy is an excellent form of government for a young civilization.

@@Republic
A Republic is an assembly of autonomous city-states under the control of a central government. Although the central government has the ultimate say in matters that affect the society as a whole, the city-states are given a certain amount of latitude in the governing of local affairs. Decisions are made by the ruler, but are subject to review by a group of officials known as the Senate.

* Each unit costs one shield per turn.
* Settlers eat two Food per turn.

Each unit beyond the first unit that is not in a friendly city (or in a Fortress within three squares of a friendly city) causes one citizen in its home city to become unhappy.

Republics experience a low rate of corruption and waste. The farther a city is from your capital, the higher its level of corruption.

* Under a Republic, Tax/Luxury/Science rates cannot be set higher than 80%.
* Your senate may force a peaceful solution in a conflict.

* Switching to a Republic can give an astounding boost to your Science and Luxury revenues, although you will probably be forced to shift some Trade to Luxuries in order to prevent unhappiness.
* Republics make it difficult and expensive to keep a sizable army in the field, but building certain Improvements and Wonders can help to alleviate this problem.

@CONCEPT_DESCRIPTIONS

@@Disband
When a friendly unit becomes obsolete, costs too much to maintain, or causes unhappiness among your population, you might want to eliminate the unit. To eliminate a unit, order it to disband by holding down the shift key and pressing "D", or by selecting "Disband" from the Orders menu. Once disbanded, the unit is permanently removed from the game.

When a unit is disbanded inside a friendly city, half of the unit's production cost in Shields is added to the production of whatever unit, Improvement, or Wonder is currently under production in the city.

@@Fortify
Roman legions on campaign halted their march early enough each evening to build a completely fortified camp for the night. They had learned the value of defensive fortifications when under attack. Where possible, it was the standard practice of most armies to build defensive works of some type whenever expecting an attack. Fortified defenders had their fighting strength multiplied, making it much harder to defeat them.

Ground units can be ordered to fortify by pressing the "F" key, or by selecting "Fortify" from the Orders menu. The defensive value of fortified units is increased by 50 percent.

@@Fortress
Once your civilization has discovered Construction, Settlers and Engineers have the ability to construct fortresses. Fortresses can be utilized to defend city perimeters and to block key points of access from enemy armies. A properly manned fortress can provide an effective defense by doubling the defensive strength of all units stationed within. Unlike normal combat, units stacked within a fortress defend and are destroyed one at a time in battle, rather than being destroyed simultaneously. Fortresses themselves do not suffer damage in the attack.

Settlers and Engineers can construct fortresses by pressing the "F" key, or choosing the Build Fortress command from the Orders menu. Units within a fortress have their defensive strengths doubled. Under a Republic, units stationed inside fortresses built within three squares of their home city do not cause unhappiness.

@@Irrigation
When the early farmers moved down from the hills into the valleys of the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers, they had to develop the technology of irrigation. The freshwater rivers passed through lands essentially barren due to the lack of rainfall. Through irrigation, water could be removed from the rivers and spread on the nearby land, making it suitable for farming.

Irrigation increases Food production in Grasslands, Plains, Deserts, and Hills. Only squares vertically or horizontally adjacent to water (Oceans or Rivers) or another irrigated square can be irrigated. After the discovery of Refrigeration, terrain squares can be double-irrigated to create farmland. Settlers and Engineers can be ordered to irrigate by pressing the "I" key, or by selecting "Build Irrigation" from the Orders menu.

@@Luxuries
The provision of Luxuries for your citizens is indicated by the goblet icons in the Resource Box of the City Display. Each two Luxuries makes one content citizen happy, or one unhappy citizen content. The amount of Luxuries a city produces is mainly determined by the percentage of Trade you have allocated to Luxuries. This can be adjusted using the "Change Tax Rate" command on the Kingdom menu. A city's Luxuries can also be increased by building certain City Improvements and Wonders of the World, and by converting citizens into Entertainers.

@@Mining
Early civilizations had little difficulty locating nearly pure deposits of useful metals, such as gold, silver, and copper, lying exposed on the Earth's surface. As time passed, the surface deposits were exhausted, and people began digging into the ground to look for more. Mining and excavation for metals and other valuable materials continues today.

Mining increases the Shield production of Deserts and Mountains by one, and increases the Shield production of Hills by 3. Settlers and Engineers can be ordered to dig mines by pressing the "M" key, or by choosing the "Build Mine" command from the Orders menu.

@@Pillage
The terrain improvements built by other civilizations (irrigation, mines, roads, etc.) can be destroyed by moving a unit into the improved terrain square and ordering the unit to pillage. This reduces the production value of the land, and forces your enemy to re-develop the terrain.

Units can be ordered to pillage by holding down the shift key and pressing "P", or by choosing the "Pillage" command from the Orders menu. The unit must be ordered to pillage once for each of the terrain improvements you want to destroy. A fully developed terrain square (farmland with a railroad, for example) must be pillaged four times in order to remove all improvements.

@@Pollution
Pollution is most commonly caused by the excessive production of Shields in a city; however, it may also be caused by large city populations (after the discovery of the Automobile), nuclear attacks, or the meltdown of a Nuclear Plant. When a city poses a potential pollution problem, skulls on yellow triangles appear in the Information Box of the City Display. The more skulls a city generates, the higher the city's chance of polluting a terrain square within the city radius each turn. When world pollution reaches sufficiently critical levels, there is a chance that global warming can occur.

Pollution can be cleaned up by moving Settlers or Engineers into the polluted square and pressing the "P" key, or choosing the "Clean Up Pollution" command from the Orders menu. Pollution production of cities can be reduced through the construction of certain City Improvements, or by reducing the city's Shield production.

@@Railroads
Railroads revolutionized transportation by providing a relatively cheap and fast method of moving people, raw materials, finished goods, and troops over great distances. Not only did they support and encourage industrial growth by dramatically reducing transport time and costs, they also spurred technological research. Railroads were among the first great industrial corporations.

Railroads can be built by Settlers and Engineers after the discovery of the Railroad. They are constructed by moving onto terrain containing a road, and pressing the "R" key, or by selecting the "Build Railroad" command from the Orders menu. Units moving along a railroad expend no movement points. Railroads increase Shield and Trade production by 50 percent (rounded down).

@@Roads
A network of good quality roads improves travel between cities. Roads were important to ancient civilizations for trade and the movement of troops. As technology grew, roads were improved. Modern, paved roads are passable in almost any type of weather, and can be traversed much more quickly than dirt roads.

Roads can be built by Settlers and Engineers by pressing the "R" key, or by selecting the "Build Road" command from the Orders menu. Roads can be built in any terrain except Oceans; however, they cannot be built in a River square until the discovery of Bridge Building. Units moving along roads expend only one third of a movement point per square, regardless of terrain type. Roads also increase the amount of Trade produced by Deserts, Plains, Grasslands, and any natural resource that already generates trade.

@@Science
The amount of scientific research contributed by a city is indicated by the beaker icons shown in the Resource Chart of the City Display. At the start of each turn, the science output of each city is added to the research project currently in progress, eventually resulting in the discovery of a new Civilization Advance. The more beakers each city produces, the faster new Advances are discovered. The amount of science produced by your civilization is primarily determined by the amount of incoming Trade you have allocated to science. This percentage can be adjusted by selecting the "Change Tax Rate" command on the Kingdom menu.

The science output of individual cities and your civilization as a whole can also be increased by building certain City Improvements and Wonders of the World, or by converting citizens into Scientists.

@@Sentry
Units ordered to go on sentry duty appear as gray silhouettes. These units are removed from the movement queue, and remain on sentry duty until another unit moves into their sight range or until they are manually reactivated. Units on sentry duty inside a city are automatically loaded onto ships (up to the ship's unit carrying capacity) when the ship leaves the city.

Units are placed on sentry duty by pressing the "S" key, or by choosing the "Sentry" option on the Orders menu. Damaged units placed on sentry inside a city become active when they have been completely repaired.

@@Shields
The production of raw materials by your cities is represented by shield icons. Thus, raw materials are commonly referred to as "Shields". The number of Shields produced by each city is displayed in the Resource Chart of the City Display. Shields are used to support units. Each unit might, depending on government type and other circumstances, require that its home city expend one Shield per turn to support the unit. Excess Shields not used to support units are used for the production of City Improvements, Wonders of the World, and new units.

Shield production largely depends on the type of terrain surrounding the city. In most circumstances, Shield production of a city can be increased through the construction of certain Improvements and Wonders. The construction of mines also improves Shield production in certain types of terrain.

@@Specialists
The citizen icons displayed in the Population Roster of the City Display represent the city's work force. Each citizen added to the roster is automatically put to work developing one of the terrain squares within the city radius. In certain situations it may become necessary to remove a citizen from terrain production in order to perform a specific task. Citizens so removed are called specialists. There are three types of specialist, each of which increases one of the three components of Trade produced by a city. Entertainers increase Luxuries, Tax Men increase Taxes, and Scientists increase Science production.

To create a specialist, click on any production square in the City Map. The production icons disappear from the square, and an Entertainer appears in the Population Roster. To create a Tax Man, click the Entertainer icon once. To create a Scientist, first create a Tax Man, then click the Tax Man icon once. Cities must be size five or larger to support Tax Men and Scientists.

@@Taxes
The Taxes collected by a city are indicated by gold coin icons in the Resource Chart of the City Display. Taxes are used primarily to pay the maintenance cost of City Improvements each turn. Any tax revenues not used for maintenance of Improvements are added to your treasury. The amount of Taxes generated by the city is primarily determined by the amount of incoming Trade you have allocated to Taxes. This can be adjusted by selecting the "Change Tax Rate" option from the Kingdom menu.

Tax revenues can also be increased through the construction of certain City Improvements and Wonders of the World, or by converting citizens into Tax Men.

@@Trade
Trade represents more than just the exchange of goods and cash between cities and civilizations. Trade also represents the exchange of knowledge and ideas, and the recreational travel and activities of the citizens of your civilization. The total amount of Trade produced by each city is represented by double-arrow icons displayed in the Resource Chart of the City Display. Trade is then broken down into three separate components: Taxes, Luxuries, and Science. The amount of Trade allocated to each of these areas is controlled by selecting the "Change Tax Rate" option on the Kingdom menu.

Trade can be increased through the construction of certain City Improvements and Wonders of the World. It can also be increased through terrain improvements, and through the establishment of trade routes.

@@Trade Routes
Trade routes are established by moving a Caravan or Freight unit into a city at least ten squares from the unit's home city. You receive an immediate cash payment on the turn that the route is established. On each ensuing turn, each city receives a Trade bonus for as long as the trade route exists. The farther apart the two cities are, the more valuable the trade route. Trade routes established with cities of a rival civilization tend to be more profitable than those established between friendly cities. Each city may have up to three active trade routes at any time.

When using the Advanced Trade rules, the value of a trade route is also affected by the type of goods traded. When trading a commodity that is demanded by the destination city, the trade route is much more profitable.

@@Veteran Units
During the American Civil War, soldiers who had never been in battle were said to have "seen the elephant" after being under fire for the first time. Afterward, they were considered veterans. History shows that well-trained, veteran soldiers are much more likely to survive a battle than inexperienced troops.

Units have a 50 percent chance of becoming Veterans each time they survive a combat encounter. Cities with a Barracks Improvement automatically produce Veteran units, as do all cities under the influence of the Sun Tzu's War Academy Wonder. The attack and defense factors of Veteran units is increased by 50 percent.

@@Corruption and Waste
As your civilization grows, you might notice that some of your cities are losing some of their Trade and Shields to corruption and waste. Corruption is Trade income that is lost to theft, embezzlement, and other illegal practices. Waste is Shield production that is lost to inefficiency. The farther a city is from your capital, the more corruption and waste it experiences. The amount of corruption and waste is also affected by the system of government you are using.
 
Corruption and waste, if left unchecked, can significantly slow the development of your civilization. Both corruption and waste can be reduced by 50 percent by building a Courthouse in the city experiencing the problem. The best solution, however, is to switch your system of government to a more advanced form. The more advanced the government, the less corruption and waste you experience. Communism and Democracy alleviate this problem altogether.

@@Unhappiness Due to Civ Size
Once you have built a certain number of cities, your citizens start to worry about your ability to effectively govern your civilization. When this occurs, additional unhappy citizens appear in each city.

The number of cities you can build before causing additional unhappiness is based on a number of factors, including game difficulty level and government type. The number of cities is higher for more advanced governments and lower levels of difficulty.

@@Combat Damage
It is now possible for units to be damaged as a result of combat. In each successful attack, a unit inflicts an amount of damage equal to its Firepower rating. The amount of damage a unit can sustain before it is destroyed is determined by multiplying the unit's Hit Point rating by ten.

The approximate amount of damage a unit has sustained can be determined by the length and color of the unit's damage bar (the colored bar at the top of the unit's shield symbol). A green bar indicates that the unit has lost from 0 to 33 percent of its Hit Points, a yellow bar shows that the unit has lost from 34 to 66 percent, and a red bar indicates that it has lost 67 percent or more.

Damage also affects the movement of a unit. The percentage of movement lost is equivalent to the percentage of Hit Points lost. Sea units can never have their movement reduced below two. The movement of air units is not affected by damage.

@@Transforming Terrain
In addition to the changes to Terrain that can be made through irrigation and mining, Engineers are able to transform map squares into a radically different Terrain types by using the "Transform" command on the Orders menu. Terrain transformation is particularly useful if the Terrain surrounding a city doesn't produce sufficient resources.

See the Civilopedia entries for each Terrain type for the results of Engineer transformation.

@@Airbases
After the discovery of Radio, your Settlers and Engineers have the ability to construct Airbases. Airbases act as remote refueling stations for Fighters, Bombers, Stealth Fighters, and Stealth Bombers. Strategically placed Airbases effectively extend the range of these units, allowing them to operate farther from friendly cities and Carriers.

To build an Airbase, chose the "Airbase" command from the Orders menu, or press the "e" key.

@@Airlift
After the discovery of Combined Arms, you have the ability to perform Airlift operations between your cities. Airlifting allows you to move units instantly over great distances. In order to Airlift a unit between two cities, both cities must have an Airport.

To Airlift a unit, move the unit into a city with an Airport and choose "Airlift" from the Orders menu, or press the "l" key. A menu of possible destinations appears. Choose the destination city from the menu, and the unit is instantly transported to that city. The unit becomes available for use on the following turn.

@@City Squares
;Translation Note: This refers to the map squares occupied by cities, not "Town Squares".
The resources utilized by a city are not only generated in the squares surrounding the city: they are also generated by the city square itself. The city square generates all the resources normally produced by the Terrain type on which the city is built. In addition, the Terrain square occupied by the city is improved to the maximum extent possible. The city square automatically contains a road, which is upgraded to a railroad when the Railroad Advance is discovered. The city square is also automatically irrigated or mined, depending on the type of terrain. Finally, if the city is built on Terrain that normally produces no Shields, one Shield is automatically added to the other resources generated in the city square. These enhancements ensure that the city square produces the maximum amount of resources possible.


@This must be here to terminate search!!!

